


And One More for the Road

by 101scribbles (orphan_account)



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Smut, F/M, Mild Language, Slow Burn, Temporarily Unrequited Love, What Did You Expect, also slightly off canon, but this is a fic, but which way ooo, charismatic courier, like conversations that take place in game are not completely accurate
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-08-04
Packaged: 2019-05-14 08:03:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 22,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14765723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/101scribbles
Summary: Craig Boone ends up as the right-hand man for the focal point of the Mojave Desert. Wherever she goes, he's there about twenty paces back per her command.





	1. Chapter One

It was a night no different from the rest. The cool wind of the Mojave night blew through the mouth of the Novac sniper nest while Craig Boone kept watch over his sector of Highway 95. He didn’t see her enter Novac, so she must have come during Manny’s shift. He wasn’t expecting her to arrive in the nest during his shift, though. He didn’t even know how she managed to get in without the old door squeak like hell.

He jumped a little when she cleared her throat.

“Dammit,” he cursed, “Don’t sneak up on me like that. What do you want?”

“I heard there was a sniper nest up here,” she said, “Wanted to check it out.”

Boone deadpanned. If she was trying to be funny she wasn’t doing a good job.

“I think you better leave.”

The girl’s small smile fell, “Are you this mean to everyone?”

“You aren’t from here, maybe you shouldn’t go,” he said, “Not just yet.”

“Now you want something from me?”

The girl crossed her arms and shifted back.

“I need someone I can trust,” he countered, “You’re a stranger. That’s a start.”

The girl thought for a moment and nodded, “Okay. What do you need me to do?”

“I need you to find something out for me,” Boone said, “My wife was taken from our home by Legion slavers one night while I was on watch. They knew when to come and what route to take. They only took Carla. Someone set it up. I don’t know who.”

“You want me to find Carla?” she asked.

“She’s dead,” Boone said roughly, “I want the son of a bitch who sold her.”

“And when I find this person?”

“Bring him in front of the nest while I’m on duty,” he said, “I work nights. I’ll give you my NCR beret to put on. It’ll be our signal, so I know you’re standing with him. I’ll take care of the rest. I need to do this myself.”

He handed her the beret.

“I’ll see what I can do,” she nodded.

“Good,” he said, “I’ll make it worth your while. And one more thing. We shouldn’t take until this whole thing is over.”

“Got it,” the girl said.

She turned and left.

Boone didn’t see her again for three nights. For three nights he stood waiting for her to show with the unknown person he hates.

No.

Despises.

No, still too weak.

Before he couldn’t figure out a word strong enough to carry his negative feelings, the girl walked out in front of the nest with Boone’s beret in hand.

A woman walked alongside the girl.

They stopped and talked for a moment. The girl put Boone’s beret on and took a step back from the woman.

Boone took no time to shoot and kill the woman.

Jeannie May Crawford. As he saw through his scope. He should have known. She never gave them the same hospitality the rest of the town got. It always seemed forced, never genuine. At the time, Boone didn’t care because he was with Carla. But really it made all the difference. He should have noticed, he should have known.

The girl arrived back in the nest. Nearly scaring Boone again, but this time he was expecting her.

“So that’s it, how did you know it was her?”

“I did some digging, I’m not proud of it but it got the job done,” the girl said. She handed him a slip of paper.

Boone scanned over the bill of sale. Noting a few phrases.

Carla Boone. Unborn child. Jeannie May Crawford.

It was all there in his hand. He had the answer but he still didn’t feel any satisfaction from knowing Jeannie was responsible for Caral’s kidnapping nor did he feel satisfied with the death of Jeannie. Not to say he wasn’t happy the bitch had her head blown off.

“It’s like them to keep paperwork,” was all Boone could say.

The girl must not have been satisfied with the outcome either because she kept talking.

“What are you going to do now?”

“I don’t know,” Boone said, “I probably won’t stay here.”

“Come with me,” the girl offered, “We can go after the Legion together.”

With some slight pestering, Boone agreed and left with the girl.

She called herself ‘Six’.


	2. Chapter Two

Six trudged slowly across the desert. She stopped often to drink or look around. Boone wasn’t sure if it was because she saw something in the distance or not. Most times there was nothing to worry about. She fiddled with her gun, looking at it like a girl who had only recently come into owning one. Six aimed like it too.

Boone thought her lucky to have him watching her back. If not for her way with words, she would have no chance against the ruthless Mojave. She wasn’t very strong, either. He’s seen her try to crack a Radscorpion’s shell open before. It took her ten minutes of struggling with her bare hands before Boone stepped in and crushed the shell with his boot.

Thanks,” Six muttered as she started collecting meat.

Boone stepped back while she pulled the good meat out and put it away.

She stood back up and wiped the blood off of her hands.

“Let’s go,” she said, “We should find a place to rest, it’s getting late.”

He nodded and followed her to a nearby shack.

There was a campfire outside. Six knelt down and worked on lighting it while Boone took watch. She had chosen an isolated spot. Nothing was around that could hurt them. Still,   
Boone didn’t let his guard down as he looked across the nearby desert. The sunset behind Boone. Despite the dim lighting, he kept his shades on. Six must’ve gotten the fire going, he could hear crackling behind him.

She hummed while she cooked, Boone made out the tune as a song that had played on the radio earlier.

She came and sat near Boone.

“Want some?” she asked. She held out the grilled meat.

Boone took his share and ate while Six continued to talk.

“My mama never taught me to cook,” she said, “Didn’t teach me nothing but how to walk and talk. Learned how to cook when I left and had to eat. Wanted food like how she made it, took some time but I nearly got it.”

Boone nodded along and took another bite of his steak.

“My daddy, he taught me my life skills,” she continued, “Taught me how important my words were, how to talk my way outta tough situations. That was after he tried to teach me to how to shoot. Taught me to help out others, ‘cause you never know when you’ll need the good karma to come back for you. Taught me more than Mama did. Used to get me to sweet talk traders for lower prices. I still remember the first thing I talked into gettin’ a discount for. Cute little teddy bear. Carried that thing with me everywhere. Left it behind with my parents when I got up and left.”

“Why’d you leave?” Boone asked.

“Money,” she sighed, “Daddy got a bum leg and had to quit the courier business. Mama didn’t want me to be working in a clinic with her ‘cause I talk too much. So I took Daddy’s place as a Courier. Been doin’ it for like, three years or so. Got this big job couple weeks back, was planning on taking the wages back home after I finished the job.”

“And? What happened?”

“This guy and some Great Khans kidnapped me,” she huffed, “Tried to talk my way out like my daddy taught me. They robbed me of all my money and my delivery. Shot me and buried me alive.”

“Jesus,” was all Boone could say.

“Get this,” she turned to Boone, “A cowboy robot digs me up and I’m still kicking. Barely though. I was in this coma for like a week, all the while Doc Mitchell’s taking the bullets outta my head.”

Boone hadn’t noticed the two entry points on her forehead before. One at her hairline, and the other at her temple. The ordeal must’ve happened not too long before she met Boone. Her forehead was still bruised and scabbing over.

“Anyway, I’m going to go get some rest,” she said, “Wake me up in about four hours and we’ll switch.”

She got up and went inside.

Boone repositioned himself to get a better view of his surroundings.

The moon was already high above. Six talked slower than most people did, not too slow that she sounded dumb, but slow enough to give her a charm that was just the cherry on top of her silver words. She had talked for a while, not that Boone minded. He knew that she was the type of girl that needed someone to talk to about things, she must not have had anyone recently to listen to her.

During the night there was only one incident where Boone had to defend their camp. But by his standards of defending the camp, he shot a pair of Legionnaires that had strayed too close to the shack.

Six came out when the sun rose. She took a few steps and kicked the dirt next to Boone.

“You didn’t wake me up,” she said.

“I didn’t get tired.”

She sighed, “Let’s get going, big plans today.”

Boone got up and followed Six to her next destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was trying to figure out what kind of past Six has and whether or not she should retain her memories. But I figured that with the way I want this story to go, she should remember her past after she comes back to life. Anyway, I've already written the next chapter and plan on posting it in a day or two.


	3. Chapter Three

Six bounced around the different NCR camps set up south of New Vegas. She didn’t seem too concerned with the looming revenge she talked about every night. Every chance she got she spoke about how she wanted to rip Benny apart, see his suit stained red. She changed the way she wanted to kill him every time she brought him up. Once she said she would tie him up, shoot him, and bury him in a shallow grave just as he did to her. Another time she said she’d gouge his eyes out with a rusty spoon and let him die blind to an infection in the middle of the desert. And most recently that she’d strangle him with her own bare hands. Boone didn’t spoil her fun and tell her that she would have to find a way different than that if she wanted to succeed. 

In the week of knowing Six, Boone helped her get HELIOS One up and running properly, save NCR troops taken as hostages in a mine, and most recently track down missing supply-runners for Camp Forlorn Hope.

There was so much to do there.

Six had already treated a few men for Doctor Richards and recovered the lost supplies for Quartermaster Mayes. Now she was investigating missing medical supplies. She had gone around and asked some of the men if they knew anything.

It took her only two hours to figure out Private Stone had hooked himself on Hydra and was stealing Richard’s supply to fuel his addiction.

“Private Stone,” she addressed him with her womanly confidence.

“Ma’am,” he nodded to her.

“I know about your addiction,” she said, “I know you’re stealing from Doctor Richards.”

“You don’t understand, I need it,” he said, “The stuff out here, it’s shit. Okay? I need it to escape.”

“What about the injured men who need it?” she said, “You’re taking it and they need it more than you.”

“I never thought of it that way,” he huffed, “But I still need it.”

Six sighed and put her hand on Private Stone’s chest, “You should go turn yourself in. It’ll turn out better if you do it than if I.”

“You’re right,” he nodded, “I’ll go now.”

Private Stone left.

Six turned to Boone.

“You ready to go?” he asked.

She shook her head, “One thing I still want to do before I leave.”

Boone followed Six to the barracks. Her whole demeanor changed when they walked in. She swayed her hips as she walked and stood up a little straighter.

Six walked up to Private Sexton. He got up from his chair and tried to hide the small smile on his face. It was no secret this boy had a crush on her. Six was young and pretty, a real sight for the boys stationed out here. Her looks were talked about in the NCR just as much as the good deeds she had done. Though it was thought that maybe her looks were over exaggerated. Especially when she was compared to a fallen angel.

“Hey James,” she said, “Anything new?”

“I had a new idea to boost morale,” he said, “I wanted a second opinion.”

“What is it?”

“A competition,” James explained, “Cut off the ear of a Legion soldier when you defeat them and bring them back to me. Whoever collects to most Legion ears gets a small prize. Get it, Legion ears… legionnaires?”

Six giggled and put her hand on his arms, “That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.”

James scratched the back of his neck, “You think? I’ve been waiting to tell you that.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, wanted to hear your laugh,” he said, “See you smile.”

“Wasn’t too hard for you, huh?” Six said, “They choose the right guy to be Morale Officer.”

“You sure know how to make a guy feel great.”

“Between you ‘n’ me, baby,” she dropped to a low whisper, “I can make you feel like the luckiest guy alive. Dig?”

“I dig,” he laughed, “Let’s go somewhere a little more private, huh? I know just the place.”

“I like that,” she said.

As she and Private Sexton left, Six turned to Boone.

“Um, don’t follow me,” she ordered.

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” he said.

She only laughed as Private Sexton pulled her along by her hand.

Boone stayed in the barracks for a few minutes before taking a walk. He and Carla had met at their age and used to run off like Private Sexton and Six had just done. The third night he had known Carla, they slipped from the casino away from her friends and made their way to her hotel room. It was the first of many nights they spent in that hotel room before his leave ended and he went on another tour.

Boone wasn’t sure how long they would be gone but didn’t want to hang around the guys’ beds for too long. He lapped the camp once, twice, fifteen times before Six showed back up. A large hickey reaching out from below the neck of her large jacket.

Private Sexton came walking by just a minute later, his head held high and a grin plastered across his face.

“Okay, I’ve done everything I want to here,” Six said with a small laugh, “Let’s go.”

Boone followed Six out of Camp Forlorn Hope, twenty paces back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to post this yesterday but I got really busy with my bridal party since we had to go get our dresses. Then when I got home I watched the Bethesda live stream for three hours before crashing.


	4. Chapter Four

“To hell with that,” Boone spat as they entered Nelson, “We’re getting those guys out of there.”

Six turned back, “Stick close.”

The pair crouch and snuck into the Legion camp.

Boone shot the legionnaires and didn’t even notice that Six had stopped fighting to hack the ears off of the dying men. He had enthralled himself in seeing the bodies drop. He imagined himself in the middle of the slave auction killing the men who took Carla. He saw a bigger crowd, he shot man after man that came at him. The bodies piled around the camp. At the edge of his field of vision, a woman stood. Boone imagined Carla waiting for him to finish off the nasty men. She stood holding her stomach, protecting their child. She wore the dress he had bought for her birthday three years ago.

When all was said and done, he turned to Carla. It wasn’t Carla. Instead, a younger girl stood there, Six. Her hands were bloody and she held her pocket knife by her side. Covered in the blood of legionnaires.

Boone snapped out of his fantasy and remembered Carla was dead.

He put his gun on his back and walked towards the NCR troopers hung up on the crucifixes.

He gave Six a leg up while she cut the ropes off of the men. Each thanked them before running to the NCR station up the road.

When the last man was set free, Six sat on the edge of the platform and wiped the blood off of her hands and her knife.

“That’s a lot of blood,” Boone said.

“Yeah, collecting ears for the competition in Forlorn Hope,” she said. She opened her sack to show several bloody ears, “Thought it would make James’ day.”

“Mhm,” Boone nodded.

“We’re just friends,” Six said, “Don’t want nothing special with each other.”

This wasn’t any of Boone’s business and he didn’t want to hear about her sex life.

She put her knife away and got up.

“Mercy killing is a last resort,” Boone told her, “I’m glad you knew we had options.”

“Daddy said we don’t hurt our friends,” she muttered, “I don’t hurt my friends. Nuh-uh.”

Boone nodded.

They left and went to Novac for the night.

As they neared the town, Six turned around to Boone.

“I’m a little low on caps,” she said, “Can I crash on your couch tonight?”

“That’s fine.”

“Thank you,” she smiled.

Boone’s room was just as he had left it. His bed was neatly made and his extra boots were by the door. He had left a can of pork and beans on the table. Six sat on his couch and put her weapons on the table. She unlaced her boots and set them to the side.

Boone grabbed her a quilt from his footlocker. It was scratchy and made before the Great War, but it was warm.

Six pulled the quilt over her and fell fast asleep.

Boone tried to sleep as well, having not slept in three days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short chapter, for now, the next one is a little longer. I might post it later today if something doesn't pop up.


	5. Chapter Five

Six woke up before Boone. She had put her boots back on, folded up the quilt, and fiddled with her pocket knife while waiting for Boone to wake up. She had woken up after sunrise when the sun shone through the window and into her eyes.

When Boone got up, she was leaning back looking at the ceiling. Boone got out of bed and laced his boots up. He strapped his gun to his back and put his glasses and beret on. He adjusted his shirt and got up.

The two left the town and headed north.

Six had turned the radio on her Pip-Boy and hummed along to the songs. She had pep in her step and walked faster than before. At the pace of a regular person.

The morning was mostly uneventful. They stopped by Camp Forlorn Hope and dropped off the sack of Legion Ears they had collected.

Boone liked the competition, just another reason to kill the legionnaires.

At midday, Six decided it was time for lunch and sat at the side of the road. Boone leaned against a nearby rock while Six dug through her pack.

She turned to Boone, “Do you have any objections to eating Iguana?”

He shook his head.

“Okay, here,” she said, “Iguana bits.”

Boone ate his food while Six nibbled at hers.

“Tell me about yourself, Boone,” she said.

“If you want,” he sighed, “Not really my thing. What do you want to know?”

“What outfit did you serve in the military?” she asked.

“The First NCR Recon,” he said, “It’s a sniper battalion. Sees a lot of action. We were moved around a lot. I was stationed at Camp Golf for a while. Last I heard, they’re at Camp McCarran.”

“How did you join the First Recon?” she scooted a little closer to listen to Boone.

“They pick you out if you do well at the firing range,” he said, “Pays a little better, so I said yes.”

“Is that a First Recon beret?” she asked.

Boone nodded, “Yeah. You can tell by the patch. Bear skull with crossed rifles behind it. Slogan underneath.”

“What’s the slogan?”

“The last thing you’ll never see,” he said, “Pretty accurate, so were we.”

Six smiled, “Sounds cool.”

At mid-afternoon, they were in Boulder City.

Six moseyed across the ruins, her hips swaying side to side as she saw a man she would probably sleep with.

“We’ve got a situation with the Great Khans right now,” the soldier said putting his hand up, “I’ve got orders to lock down the ruins until it’s resolved.”

“What’s going on with the Great Khans?” Six asked.

“One of my patrols was on its way back from Novac when it came under fire from the Great Khans,” he explained, “They radioed for reinforcements but didn’t wait for us and chased the Khans into the ruins where they were caught in the crossfire. No deaths, but Private Ackerman and Private Gilbert are being held hostages.”

“I may be able to negotiate a deal with the Great Khans,” Six offered, “I have a way with words.”

“Normally, I’d turn you down since I have no idea who you are,” he said, “but considering that the hostages are as good as dead when we attack… All right, I’m going to give you a chance to talk to the Great Khans. Their leader is a man named Jessup. If we hear shooting, we’ll be coming in, but it’ll probably be too late for you.”

“Don’t worry about me,” she said, “I can handle myself in a fight.”

Boone refrained from rolling his eyes. Sure she could handle herself in a fight when he was there shooting the people in front of her.

“Good luck,” the soldier nodded.

Boone followed Six into the deeper ruins of the city.

She went to the furthest building and went inside.

“What the hell?” a man swore when she walked in, “You’re the courier Benny wasted back in Goodsprings. You’re supposed to be dead!”

“Well, I’m not, and I believe you have something of mine,” she said. She crossed her arms and stared at Jessup.

“Yeah, about that,” he sighed.

“Where’s the Platinum Chip?” Six snapped. Her arms went down and her hand twitched by her side, itching for her knife.

“Don’t have it,” Jessup said, “Benny stole it, right before he stabbed us in the back. He’s probably back at the Tops by now, laughing at me.”

Six huffed, she nodded.

“Let’s talk about settling things between you and the NCR,” she said.

“What’s to negotiate? The NCR backs off,” he said, “we walk out of here, nobody gets hurt.”

“Free the hostages now and,” Six paused for a moment, “and I’ll have the NCR escort you out of their territory.”

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Jessup shook his head, “but all right, the hostages can go. The NCR better keep their end of the deal, though. Here - a souvenir for you. It’s Benny’s lighter. Shove it up his ass when you catch up with him.”

“Trust me, I will,” Six said as she took the lighter.

The hostages left the ruined city, limping faster than Six walked.

The Lieutenant stopped Six on their way up.

“I’m glad you were able to free my people,” he said, “But I got orders to take out the Great Khans.”

“The Great Khans let the hostages go in exchange for their own freedom,” Six said.

“My hands are tied,” he sighed, “I can’t go against orders, can I?”

“If you got any integrity, you’ll honor the deal,” Six said, “‘s what my Daddy says and he’s always right.”

“You’re right,” he nodded, “Great Khans are free to go.”

Six gave a decisive nod and left Boulder City.


	6. Chapter Six

Camp Golf was the destination of the day. Six and Boone came upon the previous resort early in the morning and went straight to the big tent. Inside she talked to the sergeant.

“Damn, look who it is,” he said when Six walked in.

Word had gotten around about all the help Six had offered to the southern camps. The NCR was beginning to think highly of her.

Six smiled, she was still not used to getting positive attention from strangers.

“Hey,” she greeted, “How’d you end up at Camp Golf?”

“Been here since the first push to Vegas,” Sergeant McCredie said, “Back then, this was the hotspot for conflicts with the Legion and the likes. These days, I spend my time trying to be a little discipline into the soldiers under my command. They’ve gotten soft with no action.”

“So what do you do now that the fighting’s died down?” Six cocked he head to the side.

“Mostly drill the troops,” McCredie said, “try to keep the discipline up and the combat readiness high. It’s not the easiest job in the world - soldiers without a mission get bored easily. Still, with the Legion across the river, we need to be ready.”

Six nodded in agreement, “How do you like serving in the Army?”

“Man, it’s my life,” he said, “I joined when I was sixteen - don’t know how to do anything else.”

“Wow, you joined at sixteen and you’re still a sergeant?”

“Yeah, well,” he shrugged, “I didn’t want to get promoted out of the field. I didn’t join up to drive a desk.”

“That’s some dedication,” Six said.

“Thanks,” he grinned, “I only wish some of the soldiers under my command would share it.”

“Huh, sounds like you’re a little disappointed in your troops.”

“Disappointed? We call ‘em the Misfits for a reason,” McCredie shook his head, “They’re undisciplined, lazy, and they have absolutely no esprit de corps. The squad leader’s got some promise, kid named Mags, but as for the rest… I don’t see much hope. I’m gonna make them shape up if it kills me, though. Or them, for that matter.”

“Maybe I can help you whip them into shape,” Six offered.

Boone turned his head away and bit his tongue to try and keep from laughing. Six was good, but she wasn’t sergeant good. She could barely fire a gun, let alone teach a squad how.

Sergeant McCredie laughed, “You’re welcome to try - hell, maybe they’ll listen to somebody they don’t see as an authority figure.”

“Okay, I’ll see what I can do.”

She went out and looked for the Misfits. One soldier pointed her to a tent and told her they were probably still asleep.

At 8 AM? Boone laughed to himself, certainly no NCR soldier would be sleeping that late.

He was proved wrong when Six walked into their tent. The squad was passed out on their beds. Trash littered the floor, empty bottles of Sunset Sarsaparilla were turned over, half-empty cans on beans were open on a crate turned into a table. Six took one look at the place, scowled, and walked out.

“Can you believe they live like that?” she asked Boone as they left the tent. She sat at a table while she waited for the squad to wake up, “My mama woulda beat my rear end if she saw I left crap on my floor. Told me ain’t I wouldn’t grow up ‘til I learned how to be clean.”

“My sergeant used to make us do push-ups if our quarters were messy,” Boone said.

“Should bring my mama here,” I said, “She could whoop them into shape.”

Six laughed and shook her head.

“My mama could give me one look and I’d stop misbehavin’,” she said, “When I was little and runnin’ off, she’d chase after me and I swear she could reach into a tree and get a switch in no time.”

Six leaned back into her chair and continued reminiscing, “Daddy’d come home from a two or three-day delivery and find out I’d given Mama a hard time, I’d get another whoppin’. At some point, I figured I’d stop misbehavin’. I’d just get whooped twice every time I’d make trouble. Guess they beat some sense into me. Damn, that’s why I still try to be so nice and keep myself looking pretty. Scared someone will recognize me and write my mama to tell her I ain’t keepin’ myself clean and I’m bein’ mean. Next thing I know I’m being hung from my toes and Mama’s hollerin’ bout hygiene and morals. Damn, I need a drink.”

Six dug through her pack and pulled out a beer. She took a long swift and turned to Boone.

“And don’t be tellin’ her I’m drinking before lunch,” she said.

“I won’t,” Boone said.

“Good,” she nodded.

By the time she finished her beer, the squad had woken up. They left their tent at different times.

Six turned to Boone, “Let’s whoop these kids into shape.”

She got up and walked to one of the troops. Boone smiled when she wasn’t looking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao I almost forgot to post this one. I'm about to leave for work but I have to stop by Starbucks to get coffee first because all of our appliances are breaking. First out coffee pot this morning, and then our washing machine at lunch. It's been a hell of a great day, but I've still got chapters pumping out of me so everything's fine


	7. Chapter Seven

Six had talked first to Poindexter, but left in the middle of the conversation and grubbled about basic manners as she stormed off. She talked to Razz and laughed at the suggestion of hooking the rest of the squad on Psycho. She talked to Mags and told her she liked her idea, more time training was a great idea. But when she turned to leave, she shook her head and told Boone the squad was going to fail because she couldn’t help them with their combat skills.

“Lord didn’t give me any,” she said looking up, “Why would he want me teachin’ other folks how to fight? What am I supposed to do?”

“There’s still one more guy,” Boone said.

“Huh?” Six turned around.

Boone nodded his head to the tall boy sitting in a chair by their tent.

“You haven’t talked to him,” Boone said, “He might have an idea that doesn’t involve you wielding a gun.”

Boone had been meaning to teach her how to shoot straight for weeks, but never found a good time between her sleeping and him keeping her away from a second death. He would have to soon, too, or else when she finally confronted Benny, he would kill her for good. Especially if she tried to strangle him with her bare hands.

Six and Boone walked over to the last soldier. His name tag read, “O’hanrahan”.

Six started talking to him while Boone tried to figure out how to pronounce the boy’s last name.

“Y’all sure are a big ol’ hero,” he said, “Gotta write my mama, tell her I met you.”

“Aww, well,” Six blushed and forgot what she was going to say.

Boone gave Six a look, she cleared her throat.

“What can you tell me about your squad mates?” she asked. Her stance had changed and her voice went a tone higher.

“They’re mostly pretty nice,” O’hanrahan said while standing up, “Poindexter showed me how to make fireworks! Razz kinda scares me sometimes, but I don’t mind. He’s had a hard life.”

“How’d you end up here?”

“Well, as it turns out, we had a string of bad harvests a few years back,” he said, “Pa said he couldn’t afford to feed but three youngins, or we’d starve. As the biggest one it was my job to go join the Army so’s my sisters could eat and so’s we wouldn’t all be killed by raiders and Jesus would love us. It’s alright, I guess. I don’t like all the fighting we gotta do, though.”

“Why’re you ‘fraid of fightin’?’ she asked.

“I ain’t scared!” O’hanrahan defended, “I just don’t like hurting folks, is all. Ma always used to tell me “boy, you’re the biggest and the strongest, so you mind yourself!” Every day she told me that. Guess I done took it to heart.”

Boone sighed, it was like Six had met her counterpart. They talked the same, he thought he was listening to Six talk to herself.

“I understand,” she nodded, “My daddy always said, “Girly, you been runnin’ too damn fast, better slow down ‘fore you light the grass ablaze and come face to face with the Devil himself.” Now, I can barely bring myself to more than a mosey.”

O’hanrahan laughed, Boone couldn’t understand anything Six just said or why it was so funny.

“Tell me a little more about yourself,” she said.

“Well, I was born on a farm out in California,” he said, “Weren’t much - me, Ma and Pa, my two sisters and about forty acres of corn and brahmin. Didn’t never have no problems really, except for some lean years. Then I joined up and got shipped out her to New Vegas. What about you, where you come from?”

“I was raised in a small settlement in Idaho,” she said, “My mama was a doctor, learned everything she knew from them Followers folks but left, never told me why. My daddy was a courier like me. Didn’t ever do nothin’ ‘till I was seventeen. My daddy didn’t want me workin’ none, spoilt me rotten.”

“Then what happened?”

“Daddy got jumped during a big haul,” Six explained, “He got his leg shot as a warning. Hell, he handed everything over and said: “I got two girls I gotta go home to see.” Mama didn’t make enough to support all three of us, so I picked up my rotten butt and started bein’ a courier, like my daddy. Brought me out here and got tangled in this whole war. And here I am standin’ talkin’ to you.”

“You sure are a long way from home,” he said.

“Yeah, miss home every night,” she said, “But it sure is nice seein’ other places, huh?”

“Sure is.”

“Anyway, Sergeant McCredie asked me to talk to you about gettin’ your squad in shape,” she said, “Got any ideas?”

“To me?” he sounded surprised, “Well, I’ll tell you what I think this squad needs: a little more basic human niceness.”

Human what? That was the dumbest thing Boone had ever heard. Six smiled and nodded as if she understood.

“You think?” she asked.

“That’s right,” O’hanrahan nodded, “Folks just don’t talk to other folks, and everybody’s always cross with each other.”

“Damn right,” Six said, “Want me to talk to everybody?”

“That’d be swell,” he said, “Only, if they knew the idea came from me, they probably wouldn’t take you serious no more, so maybe you oughta think about it first. And I sure hope you’re more convincing than I am, or they ain’t gonna listen.”

“Okay, I’ll try to convince them,” Six said.

“Okay!” he smiled.

“Boone, will you wait here while I run around to talk to everyone?”

“I’ll sit tight,” Boone nodded.

Six walked away, leaving Boone with O’hanrahan.

There was a moment of silence before O’hanrahan struck up a conversation.

“So you been traveling with the Courier?” he asked.

Is that what people called her.

“Yeah.”

“You two together?”

“No,” Boone shook his head.

O’hanrahan nodded, “Okay. How long you been traveling together?”

“About a month.”

“So you wouldn’t mind if I got with her, then? She’s gorgeous.”

“That’s her own decision,” Boone said.

“I know. Just wanted to make sure I ain’t gonna be causin’ some sorta trouble between you two,” he put his hands up.

Boone didn’t answer.

“She’s got quite the fame,” he said, “And you been with her the whole time?”

Boone nodded.

“Is she like they say?”

“What do they say?”

“Said she save them fellas in Nelson even though they asked her to mercy kill,” O’hanrahan, “Said she talked them Khans into giving up hostages. Said all she did was have a conversation, said ain’t nobody can say no to her. That’s all true?”

“Yeah,” Boone nodded, “I’ve seen her talk a guy into taking a gun off her forehead during a standoff. She swears up and down that it’s the only thing she knows how to do.”

“Is it not?”

“She’s handy with a knife,” Boone said, “And she knows how to cook.”

“She cooks?”

Boone nodded, “Remakes her mother’s recipes from memory. She’s really smart but doesn’t flaunt it like your squadmate.”

“Poindexter? Yeah, he can be mean sometimes, he’s got a big ego but he usually just flaunts it on people he don’t know well.”

“I can tell.”

“Were you in the First Recon?” O’hanrahan asked, he was looking at Boone’s beret.

“Yeah, I was.”

“What happened?”

“My tour ended,” he said, “Had a girl waiting for me to marry her.”

“And?”

“Married her,” Boone said, “Moved down to Novac.”

“What happened? Did you up and leave your wife?”

“You don’t know what you’re asking.”

“Oh, man I’m sorry,” O’hanrahan said, “Didn’t mean to ask nothin’ I ain’t supposed to… How’d you meet the Courier?”

“She snuck up on me,” Boone said, “Passing through Novac one night and asked me to go with her.”

Six came back.

“Hey Boone,” she said, “O’hanrahan. I’ve got some good news. Your squad’s got some human niceness and they’re gonna start spreadin’ it around.”

“That’s great,” he said, “Thanks for the help.”

“Hopefully everything will work out,” Six nodded. She turned to Boone, “Hey, you mind if I, um-”

“I’ll go make myself busy,” Boone said before she could finish her sentence.

“Thanks,” she smiled.

Boone took a seat over at the tables he and Six had sat at a couple hours ago.

He watched Six flirt with O’hanrahan. She laughed, put her hand against his chest, and let him kiss her cheek.

After a few minutes, Six and O’hanrahan went into the tent.

Boone looked away and bounced his leg while he waited.

“Damn, did O’hanrahan just go in there with the Courier?” Razz asked Mags, “I didn’t think she’d go for him, didn’t think he’d even sleep with a girl before settling down.”

“Oh, Razz, give it a rest,” Mags rolled her eyes, “He has needs, so does she.”

“Yeah,” Razz laughed, “She could also have anyone she wants with those looks. Why go with O’hanrahan?”

“I don’t know,” Mags said, “He’s nice, got a country charm, so does she.”

Razz turned to Boone, “Hey man, you know the Courier. Know why she would want to get with O’hanrahan?”

Boone turned to Razz, “They’re similar in personality and upbringing.”

“Huh, that’ll do it,” Razz nodded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got myself off track, I got sick after work last night and couldn't finish writing a chapter so I might have a slight delay so but I'm not sure.


	8. Chapter Eight

Six walked with a limp. It was hard to tell, with her slow pace, but Boone noticed. The boy from Camp Golf must’ve been too rough on her. Boone would have suggested they stopped and rest but they we so near her end goal and Six was getting antsy.

“Boone, I’m gonna kill him,” she said, “I’m gonna go up there and look him in the eye and tell him he made the biggest mistake o’ his life. Ain’t nobody shoot at me and get away with it. Nobody, nuh-uh.”

It sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than she was Boone.

“How will you do it?” Boone asked, “You should make a plan before going in there and realizing you don’t know what to do.”

Six turned to Boone, she seemed slightly hurt. But she nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, I don’t wanna get hurt again,” she said, “I don’t know if I can take another shot to the head and still come out kickin’... I was thinkin’ I could seduce him and get him alone so-”

“No,” Boone said. He doesn't care about her sleeping around with NCR boys, but this… this was something he wouldn’t tolerate, “That’s a bad idea. Think of something else.”

Six huffed, “I don’t know. I gotta get him alone somehow. I know I can take on one man by myself, did that ‘fore I met you, but I can’t take more than one. I been collectin’ all this stuff he left trailin’ through the wastes. Why I been knowin’ where to go. Maybe I could show all this crap to someone he knows and get their help.”

Boone nodded, “That would be a good idea.”

Six nodded, “I just don’t feel real. I been thinkin’ of gettin’ my revenge for weeks and now I can see the damn city he’s been sitting in all this time. It’s right there, just waitin’ for me.”

She sat on a rock and sighed.

Boone looked down at her.

“I need to rest, my legs hurt,” she said.

He nodded and took a seat down near her.

He watched as she messed with her Pip-Boy. Her hair fell into her eyes while she looked through her files. She hadn’t let her hair get too long, it stopped at her chin. It was light brown and shone in the hot Mojave sun. She took care of it too, every chance she got, she cleaned it. She pushed her hair out of her face and looked up.

Boone looked away.

“Did you see that?” Six asked, “I think them Legion boys are back.”

Boone looked in the direction she was pointing, a group of Legion assassins was running their way.

He pulled his gun over her shoulder and stepped in front of Six. He fired shot after shot, the legionnaires dropped like flies. He was done in a coupled minutes.

“Want to get some ears?” he asked with a small smirk.

Six smiled and got up, “Hell yeah.”

She made her way to the dead Legionnaires and pulled her knife out. She knelt over each of them, took their helmets off, and cut their left ear off. She looked up to Boone and laughed.

“You caught me red-handed,” she said putting her bloody hands up.

He gave a small laugh.

“Six, these would be good targets for you to shoot at,” he said.

“What, you gonna teach me how to shoot like you and them Recon folks?” she asked, “Good luck, my daddy already tried and he was the best gunslinger of all of southwestern Idaho.”

“I thought you said he got shot.”

“I said all of he was the best in southwestern Idaho,” Six shot back, “He got shot in north-eastern Idaho and let me tell you something, you better not be goin’ round insultin’ my daddy, nuh-uh. You may be my best friend but that ain’t give you the right to be throwin’ things around like “I thought you said he got shot” and all that. I’ll bring that stuff up when I want to all right?”

“I’m sorry,” Boone said, “I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“Yeah,” she huffed, “Well, I forgive you… sorry for goin’ off.”

“It’s okay,” he nodded, “I was out of line.”

Six nodded, “So you gonna teach me how to shoot like you or what?”

Boone nodded, “I’ll give it a shot.”

He drug one of the Legionnaires to a nearby rock and propped the corpse up.

Six had pulled the hunting rifle she kept on her back as decoration. She at least knew how to load it. It made Boone’s job a little easier.

She held it like she had seen Boone hold his gun. Or at least how she thought he did.

Boone got close to her and guided her hands to the right places.

“Put your right hand here,” he said, “Left hand here. Don’t put the butt of the gun against your shoulder when you fire it, hold it a few inches away.”

“Why?”

“The recoil could hurt you,” Boone explained, “Could break your shoulder.”

“Oh, I don’t want that.”

“Yeah,” Boone nodded.

“What’s first?”

Boone aimed her gun.

“Stay focused on your target,” he said, “Take your time, pick your shots, tell yourself what you’re shooting at.”

“The chest,” she muttered.

“Exhale before you fire,” he continued,” Squeeze the trigger, don’t jerk it.”

“Focus, exhale, squeeze,” Six muttered.

She took the shot and hit the dead legionnaire in the abdomen.

“Good,” Boone nodded, “Try another shot. Do you know how to get a new shell in the chamber?”

Six nodded and showed Boone that she could. He nodded in approval.

She took aim again and whispered to herself.

“Focus, exhale, squeeze.”

Boone could barely make out what she had said before the gun let the Mojave know it was in working order.

This time, Six hit the corpse’s chest.

She smiled, “I hit the chest.”

“Good. Do it again.”

Six repeated once, twice, three times successfully before Boone stopped her.

“Now that you can shoot, you don’t want to run out of ammo,” he said.

“Think I’m a good shot now, Boone?” she asked smugly.

“You’re better than you were ten minutes ago.”

“Well… thanks,” she said, “I ‘preciate you helpin’ me out.”

Boone only nodded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I don't know too much about shooting guns, so don't come after me but I just used the dialogue the courier uses to teach the Misfits how to shoot


	9. Chapter Nine

Camp McCarran was the biggest NCR Six had visited. Six looked around and nodded.

“It’s big,” she said, “Wonder where I should start.”

Boone shrugged. He was there to watch her back and make sure she didn’t do anything stupid. Telling her where to go wasn’t one of his priorities.

Six walked into the main building first and turned left. It was as if she knew where to go. She had made her way right into Colonel Hsu’s office.

“Look who it is,” Hsu said, “I haven’t had the privilege, but I’m told you’ve been an angel on our shoulder. What can we do for you?”

“I’m here to lend a hand,” she said, “Anything I can do?”

“Hmm... you don't cook by any chance, do you? Farber's doing his best, but it's hard to manage an army with half my staff in line for the latrine,” Hsu said, “Honestly, we’ve been fighting a lot of fires. The Fiends keep pressing their position fro Vault 3. We've got the Legion breathing down our necks across the river. We actually took an officer alive last week, but so far he hasn't spoken a word.”

“I bet I could make the Legion fella talk,” she said.

“I have Lieutenant Boyd on that already, and she's excellent. But I think she's hit a wall,” Hsu told her, “Talk to her if you like. See if she has any use for you. Her office is right above mine, but I think she might be interrogating right now. So she'd be upstairs on the other side of the building.”

“Okay, bye now,” she said.

Six left Hsu’s office. Boone followed her upstairs to where Lieutenant Boyd was interrogating the legionnaire. She turned to Boone.

“Wait here,” she said, “I’ll be out in ten minutes.”

“Want to put money on it?” Boone asked, turning slightly before she went in.

“Is that a bet, Boone?” she turned around, he hand was on the door.

He nodded.

“Okay, 50 caps says I’ll get this douche to talk within ten minutes,” she said, “If I’m not out by then, the caps are yours. Deal?”

He shook her hand, “Deal.”

She laughed, “The time is 1:46 if I ain’t out by 1:56 you’ll be 50 caps richer.”

She went in the interrogation room, leaving Boone in the hall to wait. He leaned on the wall and crossed his arms while he waited.

He didn’t hear much from the other side of the closed door, just the occasionally loud comment from the captive legionnaire. Boone knew he was about to be shot 50 caps, didn’t even know why he would bet his money on her best skill.

Just listening to her talk to other men was enough for Boone to want to drop what he was doing and follow her orders. Maybe that’s why he started following her in the first place, he was just another man she bent around her finger. Could it be? No, probably not. She saw him as a friend, not a pawn. Did she see those other men as pawns?

Boone shook the thought from his head, but it soon returned.

Maybe her charm is a mix of her words and her looks. She has a silver tongue, there’s no denying it. And she was gorgeous. Her caramel hair, her blue eyes that must have captured the pre-war sky and stolen it from everyone, and the way she held herself. Somehow, she was the definition of feminine, even in her blood-stained boots and the oversized jacket she had gotten her hands on before she met Boone. She was tough, there were tall-tales about her adventures; she took down a whole Legion camp single-handedly, she sent Ghouls to space, and most unbelievable, she had risen from her grave hell-bent on revenge. She was tough, but she also had the trust of anyone she wanted. Boone knew why.

Six came back out of the room, “1:53 and I got him to spill everything about the Legion and Ceaser’s bad health, pay up Boone.”

She held her hand out.

Boone scoffed and fished out his caps.

He counted fifty and gave them to Six.

She flashed a bright grin and dropped the caps into a sack.

“Know what, Boone?”

“What?”

“I’m ready to go kill Benny,” she said, “Uh-huh, gonna kill him. Ain’t lettin’ that sonofabitch enjoy his sweet life in that damn casino no more. Gonna kick the damn door down and shoot ‘em like you showed me.”

Boone only smiled, “Let’s do it.”


	10. Chapter Ten

Six stepped out of the monorail station and was greeted by a cowboy securitron that caught Boon off-guard. He reached for his gun but stopped when he realized it was friendly.

Boone learned that Six’s charm was not effective on robots.

“That’s nice and everything, Victor, but point me to the Tops,” she said, “I gotta score to settle.”

“Sorry, rambler,” the robot said, “I know you’re fixin’ to serve up some vengeance, but I’m gonna have to point you to the Lucky 38 first. Mr. House is itchin’ to meet you.”

Six either was too tired to argue or knew it was no use.

She nodded, “All right, I’ll go there first thing.”

Boone was left on the steps of the Lucky 38 when Victor said Six had to go in alone.

He remembered when he first came to the Strip. He had followed Manny through the gate but decided he didn’t want to go to Gomorrah and he wanted to see the Lucky 38 instead. But, he was denied access and told no one was allowed entrance into the casino.

That’s when Carla introduced herself to him, when he walked back down the stairs to the Lucky 38. Said he looked lost and invited him to go to the Ultra Luxe with her and her friends. He lost track of Manny after that, caught up with him three days later when he was with Carla.

Thinking back, that must have been the start of their bad relationship.

Boone sat down on the steps and waited for Six to come back out.

She must have been a bigger piece in this war that Boone realized. No one had ever talked to Mr. House face-to-face, none that Boone had ever heard about. Maybe Mr. House wanted to meet with her because of her reputation with the NCR. Maybe not. Maybe he was the receiver of the delivery she died over, she never did tell Boone much about it. He had only picked up what she had been carrying, never to where she was delivering.

Six came back out of the casino sometime later. Some travelers stopped to watch her leave the Lucky 38 and whispered about her.

Six paid no attention. She walked down the stairs to where Boone waited. He got up as she approached.

“House gave me the presidential suite,” she said, “Want to set up shop ‘fore we go put Benny down?”

Boone nodded and followed her lead.

During the short walk between the front door and the elevator, Boone looked around to take in as much as he could.

It looked like a regular casino that hadn’t been taken care of for two hundred years. He guessed that made sense. There was some trash on the floor and everything was covered in a layer of dust.

“Where to partner?” Victor asked Six.

“Presidential suite,” she said.

Boone and Six entered the small elevator.

The ride up to the suite was under a minute, despite it being on the 43rd floor.

The elevator opened up to the suite. Six took her time to look around. The was a kitchen and dining room, a large master bedroom, another bedroom with two beds, a recreational room, and a bathroom.

Boone went to the guest bedroom to put some of his things away while Six did her own thing in her room. He reorganized his ammo and put away some of the random things that Six had asked him to hang onto. He took the toy dinosaur, the teddy bear, and the broken egg timer to Six in her room.

“Do you want this stuff back?” he asked.

Six looked at the things in his hands and nodded.

She set her stuff aside, “Thanks. I’ve got everything packed up, I’m ready to do this.”

Boone followed Six out of the casino and down the Strip.

Their weapons were confiscated as soon as they stepped foot in the Tops.

Six took a moment to look around before a suave man walked up to her.

“Hey baby, the names Swank,” he said.

“Calle me Six,” she smiled, “Are you in charge here?”

“Benny runs the business,” he said, “I run the day-to-day. I’m his right-hand guy, you dig?”

“Well, you oughta know somethin’ bout Benny,” Six said.

“Really?” Swank asked, “You got something to say about the big boss, huh? Well, why don't you say it to his face instead of yapping at me?”

“I don’t think you’re gonna like it,” she said, “Seems Benny’s making his own play.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Swank asked.

“Benny tried to kill me and stole a platinum chip I was hired to deliver,” Six explained.

“That doesn’t…” Swank bit his lip and thought, “Why would he pull a stunt like that? Got anything else to offer?”

“He tried to make it look like an accident,” she said, “Just a traveler killed and robbed in the wasteland.”

“He’s trying to pull a fast one on the big man?” Swank said, “Crazy bastard. Got anything else?”

“Benny must think this chip will let him take over the Strip,” Six explained.

“Jesus, I can’t believe it,” Swank shook his head, “After all House did to set us up with this swank joint. I don’t suppose there’s more?”

Boone tuned out of the conversation but soon he was given his weapons back and was following Six to the elevators.

“Here’s the plan,” she said when the doors shut, “I gotta kill him, this is somethin’ I need to do on my own. Just like you with that old woman back in Novac. When we get up there, I just want you to stand at the door to keep him from leavin’. I’ll take care of the rest.”

Boone nodded.

The doors opened to the 13th floor. Six and Boone slowly walked down the hall to the big double doors midway. A plaque beside them indicated that this was Benny’s Suite.

The pair walked in. Boone stood at the doors and held his gun just in case.

“What in the goddamn?” Benny nearly spat out his drink when he saw Six, “Let’s keep this in the groove, hey? Smooth moves. Smooth… Hello! That broad everyone saw go in the Lucky 38, that was you? Oh shit.”

“Mr. House wants the Platinum Chip,” she said, “Hand it over.”

“You don’t wanna do that, baby,” he said, “Not without hearing what I got to say first.”

“No deal,” she said, pulling her gun, “Time for you to die.”

Benny jumped from his barstool as Six pulled the trigger. Unlucky for her, the gun had jammed. She dropped it and lunged at him.

Benny pulled his gun and before he could shoot, Boone shot the gun out of his hand.

Six tackled Benny and cracked his head with the back of her Pip-Boy. His blood spurted on the screen and Six’s face.

“Get off me you crazy bitch!” he snapped trying to push her off.

He reached for his gun. Six grabbed his wrist and yanked his arm. She grabbed the gun and beat him with it instead of shooting him.

She was relentless and didn’t let up as Benny’s angry insults turned into pleads for his life.

But Six didn’t listen. She only grunted as she hit Benny.

He was dead for at least five minutes before Boone pulled her off of his corpse. Six struggled for a moment before calming down.

He let her go.

Six went to the bloody, mangled corpse of Benny and dug through his pockets. She pulled out an oversized poker chip, it was platinum. This must have been what she had been talking about for the past few weeks.

She pocketed the chip and got up.

Boone followed her downstairs, where she explained to Swank what had gone down, then back to the Lucky 38 where she cleaned herself off.

Six stood in the doorway of Boone’s room, she wore different clothes. Just a tee shirt and shorts. She was smaller than she made herself look.

“Do you want to get a drink?” she asked, “House said there’s a cocktail lounge a floor up.”

“Sure.”


	11. Chapter Eleven

Six put two glasses on the bar and filled them up with whiskey. Boone was seated at the bar and Six was behind the bar.

“Tell you what,” she said taking a sip, “Never felt better seein’ the piece o’ shit beggin’ for his life while I killed him with the same gun he killed me with.”

Boone took a drink from his glass and nodded.

“Didn’t know this much weight woulda been lifted off my chest,” she said, “Woulda done it sooner if I’d known.”

She took another long sip.

Boone looked into his glass and sighed.

“I owe you some explanations, Six,” he said, “Things you need to know about me.”

“Guess I told you plenty bout me,” Six said, she took yet another long sip, “Your turn to talk.”

“Carla… I tracked her down,” Boone started, “Southeast, near the river. They were selling her. Saw it through my scope. Whole place was swarming with Legion. Hundreds of them, Bidding for things no man has a right to. I just had my rifle with me. Just me, against all of them, so… I took the shot.”

“Better for her to die than live a Legion slave,” Six said.

She refilled Boone’s glass.

“Yeah. The things they do to women…” Boone shook his head, “That’s worse than death. There was no choice in what I did. It was more like being forced to watch something you can’t stop.”

“You make it sound like Carla’s death was fate,” Six said.

“It was gonna be something,” he said, “If I’d never met Carla, it would’ve been something else. I should’ve never gotten close to her. I’ve got bad things coming to me. You’d better keep your distance, too.”

“Why do you think you’ve got bad things comin’?”

“Because fair is fair,” he sighed.

“I don’t understand,” Six said.

“Bitter-Springs,” he explained, “There was a miscommunication. That’s how they wrote it up in the report. We did what we were there to do. A lot of people got killed. That’s war. Maybe looking back you’d do things differently, but that’s not how it works. In the field, you hesitate, you or someone you care for dies. That’s what they teach from day one.”

“Sounds like you have some regrets,” Six said.

“You don’t come out of a tour of duty without regrets,” Boone said, “It’s best just not to think about it.”

“Do you think you got bad karma ‘cause of Bitter Springs?”

“Life has a way of punishing you for the mistakes you make. Big enough mistake, punishment can take a while. Mine’s not over.”

“Maybe you can make up for your mistakes.”

“A murderer who does good deeds is still a murderer,” Boone shook his head, “And he’ll still get his judgment. I left the NCR when my tour was up. Had enough of that. Decided I was gonna start over. None of it made a difference in the end.”

“Do you think ‘bout Bitter Springs a lot?”

“Always,” Boone said, “Even when I sleep.”

“Maybe it would be best to go back there,” she said, “Confront your demons.”

“I don’t think so,” Boone said, “It won’t change anything. And that’s a memory I don’t want refreshed.”

Before Six could say anything, Boone left and went to his room.

He paced, he was angry. Thinking about all the wrong he had down. He stopped and clenched his fists. He took a few deep breaths and decided to take a bath to calm down.

He went to the bathroom and filled up a bath with warm water. Boone got in, the heat soothed his aching muscles.

He sighed and thought of anything but Bitter Springs and Carla but everything seemed to fuel his anger.

Boone counted to ten before trying again.

He thought about how Six had interacted with a child earlier. She had been so kind and played along with the game he was playing for a short while before moving on. He imagined that’s how Carla would have been with their child.

He heard drunk stumbling from outside the bathroom.

Six must have come back down from the lounge.

When Boone finished his bath, he redressed and walked out of the bathroom.

Six was passed out in the doorway of her room.

Boone picked her up and moved her to her bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been super busy this week and haven't had time to write ahead further than this chapter, so I'll try to get a few chapters written, but until then updates won't be daily. Thank you for understanding :/


	12. Chapter Twelve

In the morning, Six was gone.

Victor let Boone know that she had left shortly before he awoke.

“She said you need to stay here until she comes back and she don’t want you to follow her,” Victor told him.

“Where did she go?”

“That’s between her and Mr. House,” Victor said, “I’m not allowed to tell you just yet. But I bet she might tell you when she gets back, partner.”

Boone walked away from the robot he had been left with.

To pass the time he stayed in the recreation room and listened to the radio.

The radio was already tuned into the station Six often listened to while traveling. In some weird way, listening to it made Boone feel as if he was with Six and not alone with a giant robot that gave him the creeps.

He flipped through one of the magazines she had left behind.

It wasn’t something he cared to read, but it was something to do.

It was a pre-war fashion magazine. Boone hadn’t thought that she would be into this sort of thing.

He mindlessly flipped through the pages, each advertising long-gone products, and different beauty routines.

One article he came across had a picture of a hairstyle very similar to Six’s. It also instructed how to achieve such a hairstyle. The top corner of the page was folded down.

It took Boone a minute to realize that Six must have been using it as a reference to style her hair.

He laughed at the thought of her setting the magazine up next to a mirror and carefully following the steps listed in the magazine.

Thinking further, he wondered how long she had been doing her hair that way. What did she do beforehand? Did she have nice hair or did she let it be a mess like most women did?

He’d never know, it would be weird to ask.

How would that interaction even go?

‘Hey, Six I went through your magazine and found what you base your hair off of. Has your hair always been nice?’

‘Yes Boone, by the way, I need you to stay further back away from me.’

That wouldn’t work out well at all. He’d better just keep it to himself and never mention that he went through her magazine.

He put it back down and looked for something else to do.

\---

Six returned the next day, late in the evening.

Boone heard the elevator chime and open, then Victor announce the floor she was on.

He left the kitchen and went to the foyer, but Six had already retreated into her room.

She must have been soaked in blood or bleeding herself. There was a trail of bloody footsteps spanning the space between her bedroom and the elevator.

Boone knocked on her door, he wanted an explanation.

“You can come in,” Six called.

Boone entered her room, his suspicion was confirmed.

Six was covered in blood from head to toe.

“Where the hell were you?” Boone tried to keep from raising his voice, but he was pissed. Pissed that she would leave - without him. Pissed that she left him alone. Pissed that she didn’t tell him that she was leaving. Pissed that she could have gotten herself killed and he would have been none the wiser.

Six turned around with a small smile on her face. She held up the head of Caesar.

“I had to go finish my job with Mr. House... and I killed Caesar,” she said, “Just for the hell of it.”

“You left me here alone,” Boone snapped, “You didn’t tell me that you were leaving or where you were going or how long you would be gone. I had to find out from a robot that you left.”

“Whoa,” Six gave Boone a look, “I don’t gotta tell you everything, Boone.”

“We’re supposed to be partners,” he said, “Partners keep each other in the loop.”

“You think I don’t know that?” She scoffed, “I been straight with you ‘bout my whole life. I done told you ‘bout my mama and my daddy. Told you how I grew up. Told you how I got shot in the dadgum head. I done been keepin’ you in the loop Boone. So, if you think I gotta tell you everything, you best be tellin’ me everythin’ ‘bout you, big guy!”

“Six, I-” Six anger worried Boone. She was still covered in blood, holding Caeser’s head, and now she had drawn her knife and was pointing it at Boone.

“No, you wanna be in the loop!” She spat, a drop of blood landed on Boone’s shades, “If you want me to tell you every teeny thing about myself, you best start tellin’ me ‘bout everything.”

“You know-”

“I know you got ghosts, Boone,” she said, “and I ain’t gonna make you tell me bout ‘em. But you start yellin’ at me again, I sure as hell will.”

She dropped the head on the desk and brushed past him, “I’m takin’ a bath. Leave me the hell alone.”

She slammed the bathroom door shut.

“I’m sorry,” Boone said to no one but himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, I got my mojo back. I'm getting back into the rhythm of writing again - apparently what I needed to do was clean my room and get angry for a spell. But I feel great now that y writer's block is gone for the most part and my room is tidy.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

The pair were back on the road the next day. They traveled without talking to each other, except when alerting the other of an enemy. Other than that, the only thing that filled the silence was the distant sound of gunfire and the radio Six’s Pip-Boy picked up.

Boone followed her to the Northeast. He wasn’t sure of the exact details, but he knew they were paying a tribe a visit. He didn’t know who or for why he didn’t feel like asking any questions either. Not after last night.

At midday, they arrived in the tribe’s territory.

But a man stopped them from going any further.

“Whoa there, girl,” A middle-aged man held his hand up, “You better slow down, or you’ll get blown up like the rest of the idiots who thought they’d scavenge in Boomer territory.”

“Thanks for the warning,” she nodded, “What’s going on past those signs?”

“Oh lordy,” the man sighed, “You haven’t heard of the Boomers? What rock have you been living under? They’re a bunch of artillery-slingin’, grenade lobbin’, odd jobs camping out in Nellis. Wander into their territory and you’re as good as mincemeat!”

“Is there a way to get past?”

“There is a way,” he said, “and I’ll tell you… for a little wager?”

“Let’s hear it,” Six nodded.

“Well, I know the secret to get past,” he said, “If you give me the caps, I’ll tell you. If you make it back alive I’ll double your money!”

“You’ve got yourself a bet,” Six nodded.

She handed the man her caps and he gave her a slip of paper.

“Okay, here you go,” he said, “That page has the details, but it’s all in the timing as you move from building to building. I’ll be watching, so I’ll know if you’ve made it to the gate or not. Remember, there are 600 caps in it if you make it.”

Six walked slowly forward and stopped just at the edge of the high rocks. She read the slip of paper and nodded to herself. She looked to Boone.

“Wait here,” she ordered.

“No. I’m going with you.”

“It’s dangerous,” she said, “I don’t want you to get hurt doin’ somethin’ I gotta.”

“I’m not waiting here,” Boone said.

She huffed, “Fine, read over the directions and follow my lead.”

Boone read the paper and handed it back to her

“I’m ready,” he nodded.

“Okay,” she said, “We’re going to run to those houses, then that should get us closer to the gate.”

Six took a few deep breaths and nodded, “Okay, go!”

She took off towards the first building, running faster than Boone thought she could move. He ran after her, catching up quickly.

He kept at her pace.

There was a loud whistle as the first missile was fired towards the two. Six ducked into a blown out house, Boone close behind her. She took cover under an old table and Boone slid under the part of the house that still had a roof.

For a few minutes, Boone thought surely he would go deaf or die before the night fell.

But for a moment or two, there was a break in the bombardment.

“C’mon!” Six said. She took off to the next house.

He stayed on her heels as she ran.

Six ducked into the next house as the next few missiles were fired. She backed herself against the furthest wall.

The house shook as the artillery hit it.

There was a look in Six’s eye, unfamiliar to Boone. It looked as if she was going to pee her pants, but like she was also having fun.

At the next break, Six left the house and started running again.

She skipped the next house, even as the next round started firing.

Boone could see the missiles nearing, they were still too far from the next house.

One went off above them. Six staggered but still moved forward. Boone picked up the pace and pulled Six with him.

He pushed her into the next house and shoved her on the ground as another missile exploded behind him. The force of the blast knocked Boone over. He looked up, the house’s roof was giving in.

He shielded Six as yet another missile hit the house. The roof caved in, barely missing the two.

When the third round of bombardment ended, Boone crawled off of Six.

“Sorry,” he muttered.

“We’re almost there,” she said, ignoring what him.

She sat up slowly and injected herself with a stimpack. She looked to Boone and held one out to him.

“Need one?”

“No,” he shook his head.

“Okay,” she said.

Six got up and crouched. She glanced back at Boone, he had gotten up and was crouching too.

She slowly moved through the hole in the wall and waited for Boone to come through.

“Okay, go!” she yelled without warning.

She took off towards the fence.

Boone hesitated but came to his senses when he heard the next whistle of a missile flying towards him.

He rushed away from the house and ran the way Six did.

Six didn’t slow down in time to not fling her whole body against the fence. She fell sideways to the ground. Boone was luckier. He slowed down and avoided collided head-on with the fence.

He helped Six up.

“You good?” he asked.

“Yeah, thanks,” she nodded, “I think we’re safe now.”

She resumed her normal, slow pace.

“I didn’t know you could run so fast,” Boone said.

“Oh, used to run everywhere,” Six said, “Think I mentioned it before, don’t know. Used to get whooped cause I’d run from my mama when I was in trouble. Daddy used to get on to me for it. Didn’t mind the trouble cause I loved to run. Ain’t nothing like the wind in your hair and feet movin’ so fast you feel like you’re flying. Finally stopped running ‘cause my mama broke her ankle runnin’ after me one day. Ain’t forgave myself. Can’t forgive myself for bringin’ harm to her.”

“I understand,” Boone nodded.

“You do?”

“My mom used to look after me,” he said, “Even though I caused her trouble. But it would be hard to forgive myself if I caused her harm.”

“Yeah,” Six sighed.

“Hold it right there!” one of the guards yelled, “Don’t you move!”

He aimed his big gun at Six. Boone wasn’t sure if it was a missile launcher or not, but it was close to it.

“How the hell did you survive that bombardment?” the guard asked.

“Simple enough,” Six shrugged, “It’s all in the timin’. Run, hide, run.”

“But I had you zeroed in the whole time!” he said, “No one’s that fast! Move a muscle now and I’ll blow you to pieces!”

“Whoa, I didn’t come here to hurt you,” Six said.

“Then just- just stay where you are!” he said, “Raquel’ll be here any second now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Working on the next chapter, I've been getting my sleep schedule back on track so I can write in the day rather at night, I'm happy how this is turning out so far :)


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Run, shoot, take, run.

Six ran fetch missions for the majority of the day. Boone saw more action on that day that he cared for. He hunted giant ants, helped repair solar panels, had a history lesson about the tribe, and tagged along while Six played matchmade. He saw Six moving swiftly, trying to gain a positive reputation among the tribe. It seemed as if it worked.

At the end of the day, Six went to consult with the leader of the tribe.

“You can wait here while I talk,” she said, “It might be a while.”

Boone took a seat on the couch and leaned back while Six talked to the leader. He relaxed into the soft cushioning, crossed his and rested his eyes for a bit.

He took a few deep breaths and let his head fall forward.

“Boone,” he felt a hand on his arm, “Boone.”

He opened his eyes and took a few breaths.

The room was brighter than when he had last closed his eyes. He must have fallen asleep.

Six sat next to him, her face was a few inches away from his. She was squinting her eyes.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Tryin’ to see if you were awake yet,” she said, “Didn’t wanna take your shades off.”

“Do you need something?”

“Oh, yeah,” she nodded, “We gotta leave and Mother Pearl said it might be time to wake you up.”

He got up and looked to Mother Pearl, “I apologize for falling asleep in your home, thank you for letting me stay.”

She smiled, “It’s no problem dear, I know you must be tired. You two must be well-traveled.”

“We’ll be on our way, Mother Pearl,” Six said, “Be back soon.”

Six left, Boone followed her as they left the former base.

The first thing on her agenda was marching right up to the older man from the day before with her hand out.

“Alright, you saw it,” she said, “Got my behind up there even spent a day with ‘em and I believe you said you’d double my money.”

“Yep, here are your caps,” he said. He handed over a small bag.

She looked through, “That was 600.”

“Sorry about that,” he said, “Poor memory, here you go.”

He handed her more caps and they were on their way.

She stopped when they were down the road a bit.

“Here,” she said, she handed Boone half of the caps she earned.

“What is this for?”

“Your share of the profit,” she said, “For goin’ with me.”

“You don’t have to give this to me.”

“And you didn’t have to save my life yesterday but you did,” she said.

Without another word, Six put the bag in his hand and continued down the road. Her comment left a bitter taste in his mouth, but he kept it to himself.

What did she mean he didn’t have to save her life? Of course he did. Why wouldn’t he? Doesn’t she understand she’s his closest - and only - friend? Doesn’t she know how much she means to him?

He swallowed his feelings and kept close to Six.

She had switched her radio station on again. Old, pre-war western music. She didn’t listen to Radio New Vegas like most. Boone related to her, he preferred music without singers - especially when Six forgets to switch the radio off in battle. Hearing voices only distracts him from the matters at hand, especially when he thinks Six is calling him for something.

Six turned her head, “Boone, I thought I asked you to keep your distance.”

“Sorry,” he said, “I’ll keep my distance.”

Six shrugged, “You can stay close for now and I can tell you what we’re goin’ to go do since you were catchin’ shut-eye when I got the lowdown.”

He nodded and walked alongside Six.

“It’s gonna sound crazy,” she warned, “But I know I can do it. So, y’know how the Boomers like them some airplanes… well, there’s this big one that crashed into Lake Mead ‘bout three hundred years ago. I’m gonna swim down there, attach some fancy balloons to it, and then excavate it.”

“You’re kidding, right,” Boone asked.

“Honest to God, I’m not lying,” she said, “That’s all we gotta do, too. They’re gonna get it once I give ‘em the green light.”

“If this doesn’t work I’m killing every one of them,” he swore.

She only laughed, “It takes more than some water to kill me.”

“Nothing does,” he said.

She laughed again.

They neared the lake.

“Huh, ain’t this thing go all the way to Camp Golf?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he nodded.

“Wonder how O’hanrahan’s doin’,” she mumbled.

Boone didn’t have time to think about her comment. A green, mutated, fish-man thing started booking it towards them.

Boone pulled his rifle out and shot at it.

The creature’s life came to an end after only a few shots. But the one-way gun fight attracted the attention of more of the creatures.

Boone and Six were quick to take them down.

She walked past the corpses and stopped at the edge of the water on an old boat ramp.

Without so much as a warning, Six started stripping from her clothes.

Boone was quick to turn around and give her the respect and privacy she deserved.

A moment later, she tapped on his shoulder.

“Will you watch my stuff? I don’t wanna get it wet,” she said, “Jacket takes days to dry completely.”

“Sure,” Boone nodded.

He took her clothes and folded them neatly while she gathered the things she needed to lift the plane.

Boone looked up when he heard the water slosh. Six was wading in, stripped down to her underwear and holding strange equipment. The rest of her body was paler than her face but still tan.

She did mention she didn’t work until just a few years ago. Maybe she didn’t always wear that giant coat of hers just like she hadn’t always worn her hair in such a way.

He added that to the list of things never to ask her.

She swam out to the middle of the lake, then disappeared under the water.

Boone waited patiently while she was under the water. He looked up to the no empty Legion fort on the other side of the lake. Even from where he stood, he could make out blood spatter that had soaked through the linen walls of the barrier. It must have been a bloodbath.

He was jealous, though he would never admit it. He wanted to be there to watch the Legion have their asses handed to them by a woman. He could only imagine the face Caesar made when she entered his tent, covered in the blood of his men.

Six surfaced and gasped for air.

She swam back to shore and wrung her hair out.

Boone kept his eyes up as she went through her coat. She pulled out a remote device and pressed a button on it.

There was a loud rumble from underneath the water. The plane rose from the bottom of the lake with a loud splash.

In the few minutes that she had left the water, the hot Nevada sun had already dried her off. For the most part. He hair was still wet, but quickly drying.

She redressed. She first pulled her tank top and pants on. She sat down and tucked her pants into her boots. She got back up and pulled her coat on.

Six looked at Boone, “Let’s get back to Nellis. Gotta go recruit them for the battle.”


	15. Chapter Fifteen

They were back on the Strip. Six just wanted a drink after letting Crocker know the boomers would be aiding the NCR

Six sat at the bar at Gomorrah, Boone sat nearby at a table. She had traded her regular outfit for a dress she had found in the ‘38. She spent all afternoon trying to pretty herself up for her night out.

On her second drink, a soldier sat down next to her.

“Hey,” she smiled and took a sip.

“Hi,” he said, “Aren’t you the gal who’s been saving our asses around here?”

“They call me the Courier,” she nodded.

“Real admirable what you’ve been doing,” he said.

“Thank,” she laughed, “You know… I have a thing for men in uniform.”

“Do you now?” he asked.

She ran a finger down his chest, “I do. But I wouldn’t mind seeing you out of yours.”

Boone didn’t care to hear the rest of the conversation. He downed the rest of his drink and soon she was gone.

Boone ordered another beer.

Six was back soon. She ordered another drink and sat at the bar again.

She ignored the next guy that talked to her and downed her drink. He left her after a minute when he got the hint that she wanted to be left alone.

After her fifth drink, Six stumbled over to Boone’s table and sat down next to him.

“Hey,” she smiled, “Boone, I wanna go. That guy sucked. He didn’t last at all.”

Boone paid the tab that he and Six racked up. She leaned on him while he lead her out of the casino and across the road to the ‘38. She was too drunk to walk on her own.

She had a problem holding her alcohol, and it would have to stop if she kept aiding the NCR. If she helped them secure the Hoover Dam, she would have to stop drinking. She was three years too young to be drinking in NCR territory. It wasn’t a problem now, Mr. House didn’t have any drinking-age requirements. He didn’t care.

“Boone,” she mumbled when he helped her into the elevator, “I wanna go up to the cocktail lounge.”

“No,” he said, “You’ve had enough tonight.”

“You’re not my mama,” she said. She reached her arm out to press an elevator button, “Damn, I can't see straight… Boone will you press the button?”

“No,” he repeated.

She stomped her foot and stumbled back.

Boone grabbed her before she fell and hit her head. As tough as she was, another head injury wouldn’t leave her in prime fighting condition. He had his arms wrapped around her waist, holding her close. Before he could let her go and help her regain balance, she leaned forward and kissed him.

She moved her lips skillfully against his. Her lips were soft, softer than he remembered Carla’s. She tasted like straight whiskey - she had been drinking more than her share that night. Before Boone could think, before he could remind himself that she was drunk, he kissed her back.

He loosened his grip on her and ran his hands up her back. He felt the soft cotton of her dress, a precious luxury not found easily in the Mojave. Six ran her hands up his chest and held onto his shirt. Boone leaned further into her, his mind was blank. The only thing he could think about was how much he didn't realize he wanted this.

Six hiccupped into the kiss.

Boone snapped back to reality and pulled away.

“You’re drunk,” he said.

“Yeah,” she nodded, “So’re you.”

“Not as drunk as you,” he shook his head.

The elevator opened. Six went straight to the kitchen and opened the fridge. She pulled out a bottle of wine, took a sip, and pressed the bottle to Boone’s lips.

“Drink it,” she said.

Boone took the bottle out of her hands, “Go to bed.”

She smiled and left the room.

Boone put the bottle of Wine back in the fridge.

He walked past her room, where she sat on her bed. Boone stopped in front of her doorway, he and Six looked at each other, he shook his head, went into his room and locked the door behind himself.

In the morning, Six sat at the dining table. She picked at her buffalo gourd seeds and sipped on a glass of water. She looked up at Boone and averted her gaze back down to her breakfast.

“I’m sorry I told you about that guy last night,” she said, “and anything else embarrassing I did. God, I can’t remember anything.”

“It’s okay,” he said, he opened the fridge and took out some sugar bombs.

He sat across from her and ate his food silently.

“I thought more about what you said,” he told her, “I think maybe you’re right. Maybe I should go to Bitter Springs. I’m not sure what I’m hoping to find there.”

“What changed your mind?” she asked.

“Nothing,” he shook his hand, “Just tired of thinking about it.”

“Okay,” she nodded, “We’ll make it a point to stop there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've finally got chapters prewritten again, I've got a few more ahead of this one. :)


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Six had left for Bitter Springs after she got over her hangover, late in the day.

The sun had already set as they approached the settlement. Boone pulled Six to the side.

“This is the place,” he said, “We got sent from Camp Golf, looking for some Khans who’d been making trouble with one of our settlements. I guess one of the settlers was connected because we sent everything we had. We figured this was a gang hideout, but... they’d led us to their home. There’s a ridge called Coyote Tail on the south side. That’s where we set up.”

Boone showed her to Coyote Tail and told her more.

“Canyon 37,” he said, “That’s what the NCR calls the pass down there. It was the Khans’ only escape, so we set up here to guard it while the main force attacked from the front. Standing orders were to shoot on sight. Main force got spotted too soon. We hear shooting. Then Khans started coming through Canyon 37 in bunches. It was all wrong, though. Women, kids, elderly. Wounded started coming through, too. We radioed to confirm our orders but command didn't get what we were seeing. They told us to shoot till we were out of ammo. So that’s what we did.”

“How could- how could you kill innocent people like that?” she asked.

“With the Khans, any of them can be dangerous,” he sighed deeply, “There’s a lot you can’t see through a scope. Still, I often wonder the same thing. Anyway... I don’t know why we’re here. Thought maybe it’d help me to see things better.” I’d like to stay here for the night. Think some things over.”

Six nodded.

“I’ll take watch if you want to rest,” he offered.

She fell asleep soon, using her arm as a pillow.

It was only four hours before Boone woke her up.

“Six,” he said, shaking her slightly.

“Huh?” she yawned.

“Something’s wrong,” he said, “Got a group coming our way. Looks like a Legion raiding party. It’s big. Might be too big. Even for us. If you want out I won’t blame you. But I’m going to stay. See if I can hold them off.”

“Wha-why’re they here?” she mumbled, still trying to wake up.

“Easy target for grabbing slaves,” he said, “Bunch of refugees, just a few soldiers defending it. I don’t think they’re here for us. Too bad. Would’ve made me feel good about myself.”

“You don’t sound surprised,” she said, she got up and stretched her arms out.

“I’m not,” he said, “Always figured this was how it was gonna end for me. Just didn’t know when. The day you showed up in Novac, I had a feeling I was supposed to go with you. That it was time to end all this. And now I know.”

“Well, this saves us the trouble of finding those assholes,” she said.

Boone laughed, “If only it was easy all the time.”

“What are we waiting for?” she asked.

“I think this is exactly what I’ve been waiting for,” he said.

Six grabbed her gun and started shooting at the party of Legion. Boone covered her, taking down legionnaire after legionnaire. He didn’t let them get near Six, not even close. They hit the ground as they ran towards her.

Six took down own her share of legionnaires, too. Six stopped occasionally to cut the ears off of their still-warm corpses.

She held herself strong through three waves of the raiding party. Boone realized he was wrong to think they wouldn’t be able to hold the party off. The girl took on the whole Fort on her own and won, this was a skip in the park compared to that, to add on to that she had Boone’s help. To her, this was nothing.

When the last Legionnaire fell, Six stood still for a few moments. She looked around, hoping to find more attackers to slay. She turned to Boone.

“Huh,” he said, “We made it through after all. Not sure what to make of that.”

“I ain’t gonna let you die,” she said.

“I don’t mean disrespect,” he said, “It’s a hell of a thing having someone with your ability looking out for me. But I’ve come to believe that there are things nobody can stop. I thought for sure that’s what we’d finally come up against today. It would’ve made sense for things to end here. But now… I’m still waiting.”

“No one’s judging or punishing you,” Six said, “Things just happen.”

“If that’s how it is,” he shook his head, “There’s not a lot of comfort in knowing it. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do about all this.”

“You can’t take back what you’ve done, Boone,” she said, “But your regrets can set you on a better path.”

“I guess they brought us here,” he said, “One less Legion raiding party running loose now. Never a bad thing, you can take my word for that. Still feels like I’m living on borrowed time. But I don’t see any reason not to take a lot more of those sons of bitches with me. You got a point. There are still some things I can do before all this is over.”

Six smiled, “Do you wanna head back to the ‘38 and grab a drink?”

“We can head back, but no drinks,” he said.

“What? Why?” she asked.

He shook his head, “You drink too much.”

He left it at that.

Six was angry, but couldn’t argue that it wasn’t true.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

Six stopped by Camp McCarran on the way back from Bitter Springs. She didn’t bother going into the airport when she got there. She went to Boone’s old uniform and started talking to the snipers there.

She first talked Corporal Betsy into getting medical treatment for her PTSD. Then, she flirted with a rookie with a bad stutter.

Boone hung back but still gave into his bad habit of listening in to one of her private conversations.

“Y-You’re back,” the kid said, “Didn’t thi-think you’d want to talk to m-m-me again.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” she asked.

“Most people d-d-don’t like the st-stutter,” he said.

“So? Doesn’t mean it bothers me,” she told him, “Besides, you’re my type.”

Boone took a lap around the airfield. When he was done, she was gone. So he took another lap. He pushed everything down, bottling up everything he felt. On his tenth lap, Six caught up with him.

“Let’s go,” she said.

Boone followed her into the airport.

Her path was straight to Colonel Hsu’s office.

“Hi, Colonel,” she said, “Anything I can do to help around here?”

“Yeah, I can’t send a patrol on a bathroom break without it being ambushed by someone who heard they were coming,” he said, “So someone’s getting the word out.”

“I’ll look into who’s leaking NCR intelligence,” she said.

“Well, why not?” he said, “You’ve only ever been here once before so I can safely rule you out as the leak. I’d like to have absolute trust in my men, but that’s just not practical right now. Go ahead and look into it. See what you find. We don’t have much to go on right now. Lately, every raiding party in New Vegas seems to have a map of our troop movements. It derails everything. Supplies, reinforcements. And it’ll only get worse, the longer we let it go on. Captain Curtis is heading up the investigation right now. He can fill you in.”

“Thank you,” she nodded.

Six found her way to Captain Curtis’s office.

“‘Scuse me, sir,” she said to get the Captain’s attention.

“Nice to meet you,” he said, “I’m Curtis.”

He shook her hand, “I’m the Courier. Colonel Hsu wants me to help you look into the recent intelligence leaks.”

“Smart man,” he said, “I can use somebody who can operate under the radar around here. Whoever our mole is, he’s been slippery. Whenever one of the MP’s gets too close, he changes his habits. Our last lead went cold weeks ago.”

“Where should I start?”

“You want my advice? Start by talking to people with a lot of eyes in the field,” he said, “People like Lieutenant Boyd, or Sergeant Contreras, maybe. Careful with Contreras, though. He’s not above suspicion himself. Keep me apprised of any leads you get. This guy’s gotten a lot of my men killed. I’m just itching to return the favor.”

“Thanks, Captain,” she said, “Goodbye.”

“Later,” he nodded.

She walked upstairs to Lieutenant Boyd’s office.

“Hey Lieutenant Boyd,” Six walked into her office and sat on her desk like she owned the place.

“Good to see you again, Courier,” Boyd said, “Do you need anything?”

“Yeah, I’m looking into intelligence leaks,” she nodded, “Seen anything suspicious lately?”

“Now what kind of MP would I be if I didn’t notice anything suspicious?” she asked, “I’ve had soldiers go AWOL, break-ins, thefts, you name it.”

“Tell me ‘bout the break-ins,” Six said.

“Maybe break-in isn’t the right word,” Boyd said, “We didn’t find signs of forced entry. But I’ve heard reports of someone sneaking into the control tower at night. It’s probably just a meeting spot for a steamy, military base, love affair. Kids today. But it bothers me that they didn’t break in. It means they have an access code. Most soldiers around the base don’t have that.”

Boone tuned out of the conversation and leaned against the doorway. He replayed the kiss in his head. It had been too good to be true. She was the best kisser in the Mojave and she just had to be drunk when she kissed him.

Of course, she had wanted it at the time, he wondered how she felt now, sobered up. She had wanted him at the time, but she wouldn’t have even remembered anything if she didn’t remember the kiss - besides Boone had already done enough bad. He was glad he knew better. He stopped thinking about it, Six had walked over.

She left the room, Boone followed.

They left out of the back of airport and went to the control tower. She went through the access logs and turned to Boone.

“Somebody’s been gettin’ in at night,” she told Boone, “Boyd said there was a bunch of communication devices up there, I bet this person breakin’-in ain’t some people tryna get laid, I bet it’s the perp.”

Boone nodded.

“Alright,” he said, “Let’s stay and keep watch over the tower. We could catch him in action.”

“Okay,” she said.

They walked across the yard and took post behind a few boxes. Six sat down, Boone sat next to her and put his rifle across his lap.

“It’s eight now,” she said checking her PipBoy, “That gives us about five hours to kill.”

For the first hour, they sat silently. The second, they listened to the radio until Boone said they could give away their position. The third hour, Six started to talk.

“Boone,” she kept her voice low. Her accent, a big part in her strong charm that had vexed so many other NCR soldiers, made her words smooth. It was kind to the ear, slipping in like smooth butter. Six repeated herself, “Boone.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you ever take your beret off?”

“No,” he said simply. He hadn’t thought about it much. Even though he had long since parted from the 1st Recon, he still wore his beret. Manny still did, so he didn’t think it was such a strange thing to do, “Why?”

“Just wondering,” she said, “Just seems like people down here don’t have a lotta different clothes.”

“Was it different in Idaho?”

“Yeah, it was,” she said, “At least where I was from. People had a few different outfits. Maybe three or four. Just so things don't get dirty so fast.”

“You only have the one.”’

“Well, yeah, but I’ve been traveling far an’ wide,” she said, “Gotta keep my pockets open for food, supplies, and the packages I deliver.”

She took the beret off of Boone’s head.

“I’d really like my beret back, please,” he asked.

“Like your beret,” she said, “It’s pretty cool and you wear it day and night.”

“May I please have my beret back?”

“Yeah,” Six nodded, she handed the beret back to Boone.

He put it back on and made sure it was in the proper position.

Six was quiet for a little longer.

“What are you going to do when all of this blows over?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“After the battle,” she said, “After all of this, I’m going to go back to Idaho, take more low profile jobs, and drop off the caps I’ve made for my parents.”

“I haven’t thought about that,” he said. He really hadn’t even considered that this little thing they were doing was going to end.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” she told him.

“Yeah, maybe I will,” he said, “maybe I won’t.”

Six shifted her attention elsewhere.

The fourth hour, Six started getting antsy. She pulled out a toy rocket ship and turned it over in her hands. Boone took it out of her hands around 12:30.

“Hey!” she protested, “I was looking at that.”

“We need to be watching the tower,” Boone said, “He could be here any minute now.”

Six put the toy back in her pocket and set her eyes back on the tower.

Boone watched as a soldier slowly made his way across the field and towards the tower. Six waited for the soldier to go into the tower before she moved.

She hurried over to the tower and quietly entered the building. She listened to the conversation and held her hand up. Boone was ready to strike.

“Yes, I’ve planted the bomb,” the perp said, “The monorail should leave at the end of the hour. Out.”

Six made her way up the stairs where she found none other than Captain Curtis.

“You don’t have clearance to be here,” he said.

“I have clearance to catch spies,” she retorted.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. He was a lousy liar, Boone wondered how he hadn’t been caught earlier. “I can’t let you leave.”

He shot at Six before she could get her gun out. Boone grit his teeth and shot his gun until Curtis fell.

Six was gripping her leg and taking deep, shaky breaths.

“Are you okay?” Boone asked. He knelt down next to her and removed her hand. Blood had already soaked through her pants.

“Yeah, ‘m fine,” she grunted. She pulled her pants down and got out a doctor’s bag.

Her hands shook while she tied a tourniquet above the entry wound. She got a pair of tweezers out to pull out the bullet, her hands weren’t steady.

“I can’t do it,” she said, “I need you to.”

“I don’t know anything about medical care,” he said.

“I’ll talk you through it,” she said. She handed him the tweezers, “Use these to take the bullet out.

Boone set his rifle aside and took the tweezers. He set his hand on her thigh, below her wound and carefully took the bullet out.

“What now?”

She pulled out a translucent bottle, “Pour this on it, slowly.”

Boone did as he was told. Six winced and closed her eyes. She grabbed a wipe and gave it to him.

“Wipe it off,” she said. Boone put the bottle down and started wiping her leg off. She hissed and shoved Boone off. “Don’t touch the entry point.”

“Sorry, I’m sorry,” he said. He continued to wipe her leg off, carefully.

She rifled through the doctor’s bag and started sobbing.

“There’s no needle,” she cried, “There’s no needle!”

Boone acted quickly, remembering a few bits and pieces on how to help a fellow soldier in shock. He took her hands and squeezed them.

“Six, it’s okay,” he said, “There’s a doctor on base, I can wake him up to take care of you.”

“But the monorail,” she said, “It’s rigged to blow up.”

“I’ll take care of it,” he promised, “Here, pull your pants back up and I’ll carry you back, okay?”

“Okay,” she nodded. He wiped the tears off of her cheeks, “Boone?”

“Yeah?”

“Check to see if he has a code for the bomb,” she said.

He pat down the still warm corpse of Captain Curtis. He found a slip of paper labeled, “activation code”. Boone pocketed it, strapped his rifle to his back, and helped Six up off the ground. He picked her up and slowly walked down the stairs.

He walked across the field and into the airport. He dropped her off at the medbay and found the doctor asleep nearby.

“Excuse me, doctor,” he said, waking the doctor up.

“What the hell do you want?” the doctor asked.

“The Courier was just shot on base,” he said, “She needs to be patched up immediately.”

The doctor got up and went to the medbay.

Boone parted from them and went to the monorail.

“The monorail will depart shortly,” the prerecorded announcer said.

He boarded the monorail and found the bomb in a vent to the left of the entrance. He removed the vent cover and pulled out the deactivation code.

He had seen Six deactivate her fair share of landmines and tripwires, but she’d never shown him how. He looked at the code, then back at the bomb for a moment. There was a keypad on the bomb.

Only one way to find out. He punched the code in, the red light blinked, then deactivated.

Boone sighed and disposed of the bomb. He got off the monorail just in time for it to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is longer than usual bc I couldn't find a stopping point that felt good and also I'm sorry but I couldn't find out much about fixing gun wounds because everything I found was super vague, the same thing about deactivating bombs bc I don't even want to look that up and risk being placed on a watch list


	18. Chapter Eighteen

In the morning, Six woke from her drug-induced sleep in the medbay. She found Boone sleeping in a chair nearby and sat next to him until he woke up. It wasn’t long after she sat next to him.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“A lot better,” Six said, “The doctor gave me Med-X last night and I also bought some Stimpacks off of him so I don’t have to worry about an incomplete doctor’s bag again… Sorry I freaked out last night.”

“There’s nothing to apologize for,” Boone said, “You were in shock, you’d just been shot.”

“Yeah, well last time I got shot I wasn’t awake to see the immediate aftermath,” she joked. She laughed to herself before continuing, “Anyway, we gotta tell Colonel Hsu what happened and then we can go hang out at the Lucky 38 for a day or two. I need like a rest or somethin’.”

“Then, let’s go,” she nodded.

The pair left the medbay, reported Six’s findings to Colonel Hsu, and left for the Strip. Six didn’t make any stops between the monorail station and the ‘38. She was silent during the elevator ride up, the radio on her Pip-Boy was playing but she had set it at a low volume, and as usual, Boone kept quiet.

Six went to her room and shut the door behind herself, so Boone went to his room and unloaded. He propped his rifle up against the wall and put the stuff Six asked him to keep track of on the desk.

Boone heard a radio turn on across the suite, Six must have gone to the rec room.

He left his room and went to where Six was. She watched him cross the room then sit down next to her.

Boone stared ahead and tried to keep from thinking too much about her. The way her hair fell so carefully styled. The way her skin was as soft as it looked. The way her lips felt against his.

He wasn’t doing a very good job.

“Boone?” she asked after a moment.

“Yeah?”

“How do you feel about Manny Vargas?” she asked.

“He was a good spotter.”

“Weren’t you also friends?” she cocked her head to the side.

“Yeah,” he said, “We were.”

“Not anymore?”

“No,” Boone shook his head, “When Carla went missing, he was the first person I told. He tried to hide it, but I could tell he was glad she was gone.”

Six didn’t talk for a while after that, she sat and listened to the radio. However, Boone didn’t want to end the conversation. So, very unlike himself, he kept talking.

“Is it different in Idaho than it is here?”

“Oh, yeah,” Six nodded, “A little, I guess. Not much of Idaho was hit when the bombs dropped. There was a pre-war ghoul that lived in the settlement I grew up in, she used to tell me about life before the war, not much has changed. There was more grass, lots more. There was some Brahmin, big herd of them South of town. Huh, my mama used to think I was gonna marry that rancher’s son. Think I might’ve if my daddy didn’t go and get himself shot. Didn’t have any big politics, just local democracies. Nothing like the NCR, just a couple men and women would take up arms to defend from raiders and super mutants.”

Six sighed.

“I gotta go back after all this blows over,” she said, “Gotta give all my caps to mama and daddy,” she paused, “Where did you grow up?”

“Grew up in California,” Boone told her, “Along the coast, my mother raised me alone. My father was also in the NCR, but he died in combat a few years after I was born. I signed on to the military when I was 18 because I didn’t know how to do anything else. You know the rest.”

Six didn’t say anything, instead, she trapped Boone in her gaze. He stared into her blue eyes, it was a shade of blue he hadn’t seen before. Nothing had such vivid color in the Mojave.

She laughed,

“What’s so funny?” he asked.

“The way you look at me,” she answered simply. Six didn’t break eye contact.

“What’s funny about it?”

“Nothing,” she said, “I’ve seen you look at me like that before, didn’t really notice until now.”

“Wha-”

“Same way that James looks at me,” she said, “and O’hanrahan, and Ten of Spades.”

Boone wanted to look away, but he didn’t. She’d caught him and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to save himself. He didn’t say anything, only looked at Six.

She scoot closer to Boone and put her hand on his arm. Her hands were smooth but had growing calluses from her now-frequent gun usage. She was close to him, closer than he’d let anyone get to him in a long time. And Boone liked it. He liked feeling her hands on him. He liked being able to look at her for such a long time. He liked how she made him feel at ease, even when he felt like his head was spinning a hundred miles an hour.

She didn’t seem nervous. Why didn’t she look nervous? Maybe because she was used to it. After all, she had charmed three other NCR soldiers without breaking a sweat.

“Boone,” she said softly. She had leaned in closer.

Boone was sitting up, now as well. He could feel her breath on his lips and it didn’t smell like whiskey. He could do this in good conscience.

He put his hand on her cheek and pressed his lips against hers.

This kiss was different than the last. She knew what was happening. She knew what she was doing. He knew she actually wanted this.

He ran his hand up her non-wounded thigh and leaned in closer to her. Six held onto the back of his shoulders.

The kiss itself was slow. He took his time taking in how her lips moved against his. She sucked on his bottom lip - only for a moment, but long enough for Boone to feel it. He let out a small breath. He moved his hand from her cheek to the back of her head, carefully running his fingers through her hair. He wasn’t sure whether or not her hair was sensitive - Carla’s was.

Why did he have to think of her? Now? He’d wanted this for so long, why was he thinking of Carla? Why was he like this? Why did he have to ruin every good thing that happened to him? First, he kissed her when she was drunk. Now he’s kissing her while she’s sober, but thinking about his dead wife.

He pulled away and looked at Six hoping to move on from this momentary lapse.

Six kept her hands on him while he stared, her lips kept parted for when he decided to kiss her again.

This woma- this girl in front of him. She was barely twenty, six years younger than him. Five years younger than Carla was when she died. Yet, she was so much different than Carla. Six could fight, she had the stomach to kill. She knew about Boone’s past, helped him through it. She knew more about Boone than Carla ever did.

“Boone?” she asked, “Are you-”

He cut her off and kissed her again. He knew what he was doing. He wasn’t completely moved on from Carla, but he knew he liked Six and if he didn’t do something about it now, he wouldn’t ever get a chance to do anything about it again. She was leaving for Idaho in a few months - maybe weeks depending on how much she keeps aided the NCR.

It was selfish, but he hoped maybe if she knew how he felt, she might stay.

He kissed her desperately, trying to keep her as close as possible. His fingers dug into her scalp, and in a bold attempt to let her know how he felt, he pulled her into his lap. Six didn’t seem to care, but she did pull away for a moment to take his shades and beret off. He tossed them behind him and pushed his hand up from her thigh to her back.

Boone’s stomach was in knots. He was so worried he would mess this up, even though he had Six in his lap kissing him back.

She took her hands off of Boone and started undoing her coat. He grabbed her hands and took over undressing her. She shrugged off the coat and let it fall off the couch. She shivered, now in her grey tank top. Nothing covered her arms and kept her warm. Boone ran his hands down her arms, feeling her bare skin. She didn’t have many scars - maybe it was because of her coat - but there were a few. He stopped when he felt a rough patch of skin on her forearm.

He pulled away for a moment and glanced down. It was a burn scar.

“Checkin’ out my battle wounds?” she teased, “Learned to respect the campfire’s personal space the hard way when I was ‘bout… hmm, nine maybe?”

Boone gave a small laugh, “Any more you’d like to show me?”

Six’s lips twitched into a smirk, “Wanna find ‘em?”

Boone grabbed the hem of her tank top and slowly pushed it up her torso. He stopped midway, at the base of her ribs. A long, deep scar spanned from her hip bone to her ribs.

“What was this?”

“You won’t believe me,” she said, “I was eighteen, runnin’ a package to Nebraska and got mistaken for a warlord’s runaway bride. So, the gang took me in and tortured me, dug this knife into me and tried to get information out of me about what I did with the money and the chems. Every day for a week, they’d move the knife further and further down, till the actual warlord himself got back from some big trade and came to see his bride. He figured out pretty quickly I wasn’t his fiancee and let me go with a pocket full of caps and some complimentary chems as an apology.”

“There’s no way,” he shook his head.

She laughed, “No, just had an incident with a bull on my sixteenth birthday. Didn’t hear the rancher’s son warn me that I was in the bull’s field 'til I was knocked on my back thinkin’ my stomach had been ripped out.”

Six closed her eyes. She felt Boone’s fingertips running up her scar. He pushed her tank top up further. She lifted her arms up to let Boone slide it off. She was now down two articles of clothing, as she still wasn’t completely bare. She still had on her long pants, her heavy lace-up boots, and her bra.

He went for her pants. Six had other ideas. She put her hands over his and stopped him.

“Don’t I get to have some fun too?” she asked. She pulled his shirt up, Boone pulled it over his head. She found that he was one of the very few in the wastelands to be free of scars - a privilege of long-range fighting.

He met her with another kiss, and another, and another, and another. Boone held her tightly against him, leaving her room to breath just enough. He didn’t want it to stop, he didn’t want Six to pull away from him. He had waited for this, he wanted it to last as long as he could make it. Boone dug his nails into her shoulder, Six moaned into his mouth. She pushed her hips against his. Boone wasn’t embarrassed when he knew she felt his hard-on. Instead, he ran one hand down her back and gripped her hip. He rolled his hips against her.

Six leaned down, pulling Boone with her. He took his hand off her back and used it to keep his weight off of her. Boone deepened the kiss. He ran his tongue on her bottom lip. Six parted her lips and let him explore her mouth. He used his free hand to unbutton her pants and slip his hand into her pants. He ran his middle finger in between her folds and ran his thumb over her clit. Six pushed her crotch against his hand and let out another small moan.

“Boone,” she muttered against his lips.

He pushed his finger in her, slowly pumping in and out. Six squirmed under him, reacting at every small touch as if she hadn’t been laid in years. As far as Boone knew, that wasn’t the case. It had only been a few days - at most a week. Maybe she was just giving Boone an act. Either way, he liked it.

He slipped another finger into her and pumped faster. He rubbed his thumb in a circle, giving her the friction she needed.

Six dug her nails into his shoulders and moaned again.

“Boone please,” she said shakily, “Please, I need you.”

Boone could’ve gotten off to those very words right then and there, but he wouldn’t let himself ruin this moment.

He drew his hand from her pants and worked them down, careful around her fresh wound. He leaned down and kissed her panty line.

“No,” she muttered, “Not that. I want your cock.”

Boone looked up to her, “Are you sure? I don’t want to get you pregnant.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, she blushed, “I-I can’t have no kids.”

Boone didn’t press on the issue, “Okay.”

He pulled his pants off and got rid of the rest of the clothes off of both of them.

He bit his lip as he pushed in and kept eye contact with Six.

Six let out a small whimper and closed her eyes. She hooked her leg around his waist and let her mouth hang open.

She was quiet, only letting out small mewls, moans, and whimpers while Boone pounded away at her. Boone was more vocal than her. He grunted from gritted teeth and let out curses.

“Damn, Six,” he moaned.

“Evelyn,” she said shortly.

“Huh?”

“My name is Evelyn,” she said. She bit her lip and took a shaky breath, “Please call me that.”

“Evelyn,” Boone said lowly.

He thrust slower, trying to draw it out.

She arched her back.

“Yes, yes, yes,” she mumbled just loud enough for Boone to hear, “I’m - I’m-”

She let out a moan. She gripped his shoulders and drug her nails down his back. Boone felt her release on him.

He was able to give her a few more strong thrusts before she came. His face contorted with pleasure, he moaned loudly.

He pulled out and flipped her over so she was on top. He held her, loosely enough to give her the option to walk away. But she stayed.

Boone wasn’t sure what to say now. Did he ask where they stood with each other now or later?

For now, he kept quiet, letting her stay in his arms without any obligations. The longer he didn’t talk, the longer this moment would last and the longer he would be able to enjoy the connection they were sharing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Freaking finally


	19. Chapter Nineteen

Boone woke covered with a blanket. His clothes were folded neatly on the floor next to him. His beret and glasses were on the table next to a note. He sat up - making sure the blanket still covered him.

Boone grabbed the note and looked over it.

‘Boone, I went to talk to Crocker at the embassy,’ it read, ‘be back soon. You were passed out, must need sleep. Six.’

That part had been crossed out, however. At the bottom of the page, Six had drawn an arrow to the other side of the scrap of paper.

He turned the paper over.

‘I came back and you were still sleeping,’ she wrote, ‘going to the cocktail lounge to give you some peace. Meet me up there when you wake up. Six.’

Boone dressed and went up a floor.

To his surprise, she wasn’t drinking. Instead, she leaned against the window and looked upon the Strip. He stopped and watched her. He kept his distance, hoping she wouldn’t notice him.

He knew she would want to talk about where they stood with each other - so did he. But he also didn’t want to. He didn’t want to know that his last chance of ever being happy again was gone. He would rather be left in the dark than know for sure. He would rather her leave the Mojave and never talk to him again than to know she didn’t reciprocate the feelings he had for her.

Maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration.

“Boone,” she said without turning from the window, “You ever seen such a sight?”

His mouth was dry, he opened his mouth to speak but couldn’t find the words.

God, how was she doing this? Why couldn’t he just answer her question?

He walked over to her side and leaned over the angled windows. She and Boone shared the sight of the Strip no one had seen before.

Six turned her head and looked at Boone. He closed his eyes. His heart raced. He balled up his fists. He was ready for her to break his heart. Not truly ready, he never would be ready. But he braced himself for the emotional disrepair he would have.

He already planned out what he was going to do after he left the Lucky 38 when he was done with this conversation. He would walk to the embassy, re-enlist, and hopefully be stationed somewhere far from Vegas.

The conversation didn’t come. Instead, Six put her hand loosely on his wrist, above his fist. He relaxed enough to let her slide her fingers through his.

Yes, this is what he wanted. He opened his eyes and calmed down. He stayed silent. He didn’t want to initiate a conversation. Just like last night, he wanted to enjoy the moment.

“Ain’t nobody ever seen this before, not like this,” she said softly, “Jus’ you an’ me. Feel small when I’m down there… but when I’m up here… feels like I’m big.”

She walked to the other side of the lounge, toting Boone along behind her - still holding his hand. Now, they looked at the Mojave.

“There’s the dinosaur I met you in,” she said, pointing at a small green figure, “Least I think so, haven’t seen anything else so green yet.”

She took a breath and gazed along the horizon.

“You can’t see it,” she muttered.

“I can see the dinosaur,” Boone said.

“‘s not what I’m talking ‘bout now,” she said, “Talkin’ about Goodsprings.”

Boone hadn’t heard of Goodsprings before, if he had he didn’t remember.

“What’s there?”

“It’s… where I got shot,” she said.

Boone looked to her. He looked at the two bullet wounds on her forehead.

“That’s over and done with,” Boone said, “Benny is dead. He paid for what he did.”

She sighed, “I jus’ wish he couldn’t have fought back. I-I- He tied me up and killed me. Didn’t give me no chance. He had a chance, even if it was slim. He didn’t beg for his life like I did.”

Boone tightened the grip on her hand - not to hurt her, but to give her a stability of some sort. Six huffed and squeezed his hand back.

“I wish it didn’t happen in the first place,” she huffed, “But, I guess if it didn’t, I wouldn’t have met you.”

Damn it. He knew it. Boone should have kept his mouth shut in the first place. Now they had to talk about feelings and where they stood with each other. It wasn’t a bad thing, it could be, but it didn’t have to be.

“I never thought…” Six stopped and glanced down at the floor, “I never thought I’d have someone lookin’ out for me. You ain’t got a reason to keep followin’ me around, but you do anyway. Why?”

“You know why,” he said. Did she, though? She had told him she saw how he looked at her, but did she mean it or was it just a line?

“But I want to make sure I do know why,” she turned to him, “It could only mean two things.”

Boone looked down at her. How should he put it?

Six watched him nervously. He could feel her palms sweating slightly. She bounced her gaze all over his face as if hoping for some sort of reaction.

“I don’t want to see you hurt,” he finally said, “I don’t have anyone but you. I’m not sure what I would do if I wasn’t looking after you. I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I lost you too.”

Boone’s confession earned a smile from Six.

“I don’t know what I’d be doin’ without you,” she told him. He ran his thumb over the back of her hand, hoping for her to continue and maybe not break his heart. “Probably struggling with my gun.”

“You still do that,” Boone said playfully.

She shot him a glare, but smiled and bit her lip. She must have done that on purpose. Boone stared at her lips as she ran her tongue over them.

“We need to go to the Dam,” she said, “Gotta see if Colonel Moore’s got any errands needin’ run.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm glad I finally got this out, my updates are going to start happening less often because band camp starts next week so I won't have much time to work on chapters. I promise I'm not flaking though.


	20. Chapter Twenty

Boone had been to the Hoover Dam before. Four years prior he had fought in the first battle for it against the Legion. He and the First Recon had been placed on the ridge above the Dam and ordered to kill as many Legion as possible. A bird’s eye view was all he got to see of the Dam, then. It was all he got to see a lot of places. Six was a more up close and personal than he was, so in the recent weeks, he had seen a lot more sites up close in the Mojave than he had while touring.

Entering the Dam’s pre-war visitor center, Boone was disappointed it wasn’t as nice as he expected. But a lot of things weren’t as nice in the Mojave. He would just have to deal with it, just like everything else.

Six stopped an officer.

“Excuse me, I’m lookin’ for Colonel Moore,” she said, “Do you know where I’d find her?”

“Take the elevator down,” the officer said, “Take the door on your right, then go through the doors that have guards.”

“Thank you,” Six nodded.

She took the elevator down, took a right through the door, then went through the doors with guards.

Colonel Moore was pacing around her office, almost aimlessly. Boone knew she was probably just stressed.

“Colonel Moore?” Six asked, “I’m Evelyn, the Courier you sent for.”

“Good, you’ve made it,” she said, “I’ve been receiving reports about the savior of the NCR for a while now and wanted to meet you myself. You’ve proven yourself especially capable, and right now I can use all the capable people I can get. Crocker gets handed the fluff missions that no one else wants to do. When people need something really important done, they come to me. Usually, I dispatch one or more rangers to see these things through, but I’m a little short-handed at the moment. Think you’re up for a real mission?”

“Yes ma’am,” Six nodded.

“Since the majority of my men are on assignments dealing with the Legion,” she said, “I need someone to handle other matters that have arisen. Make no mistake, there’s a battle coming and I intend to make sure that are no loose ends when the time comes. One such loose end is a gang known as the Great Khans. Have you heard of them?”

“You could say we’ve had dealings,” she nodded.

“Then I don’t need to tell you that they can be a pain in the ass,” Colonel Moore said, “The NCR had a rather sordid history with them and I’m concerned that we’ll find them aiding our enemies when the Legion attack comes. That is unless we get to them first. I want you to visit them in their canyons to the far west and make sure they’re in no shape to join the Legion. They’re just another gang of Raiders as far as I’m concerned. So deal with them appropriately. Any questions?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Good,” Colonel Moore nodded, “I look forward to hearing of your progress. Dismissed.”

Six left the Dam. Even after Colonel Moore stressed that this was important, she still kept at her moseying pace. She had stopped him after they left the Dam and asked him to keep it close. He had no objections.

He walked alongside her, gun in hand.

She checked her map.

“It looks like we’ll make it by sundown,” she told him.

There wasn’t much else talked about until Six spotted Legionnaires.

“Incoming,” she muttered. She pulled her gun and in the time it took her to hit one, Boone had hit the rest.

She smiled, “I got one.”

“Let me aim that for you next time,” he said, “You’ll get more.”

She glanced at him and put the gun on her back.

“I was trained as a spotter,” Boone said, “Trust me.”

“I do,” she nodded. She smiled and kept her gaze on him for a moment longer, then got back to walking.

Boone’s heart swelled and he didn’t know why. He smiled too, even though she couldn’t see.

Later, they came to the mouth of a canyon. The sun was setting. It was cooling down.

“Six, how’s your leg?” Boone asked.

“‘It hurts,” she said, “But it’s fine.”

“Have you checked it recently?”

“Yeah, I checked it when I woke up this morning,” she said, “It looks good - for a gunshot wound. Ready?”

Boone nodded.

They entered the canyon side by side. Six walked closer to Boone as a few insults were lobbed their way.

“Did you know you’re traveling with a fucking murder?”

“Hey, you better keep an eye on your pal, I don’t take no goddamn chances with the NCR.”

Others didn’t say much, instead choosing to glare and send nasty looks their way.

Six looked around at the tents, looking for maybe the biggest one? Something different. Something that showed off the power of the leader.

A house. A house that overlooked the rest of the small canyon.

“That must be it,” Six said. It wasn’t to Boone. Or maybe it was. Either way, he didn’t feel the need to respond to her observation.

Six made her way towards the house, walking confidently as she was.

Not even pausing to knock, she walked in.

Not many turned to pay attention who had walked in. Those who did shot Boone a dirty glare and turned back to their meal. They seemed to be eating well. They had large chunks of meat on their plates. They ate messily, letting juice drip from their chins back onto their plates. Despite their sloppy behavior, his stomach grumbled. How had it been since he had eaten so well? Sure, he’d been eating rations Six had picked up, but it wasn’t the same as meat.

He almost wanted to sit down at the empty chair at the end of the table and eat with them. That wouldn’t happen though. They had made it clear he wasn’t welcomed here. If it weren’t for Six, the Courier who has everyone - even him- wrapped around her finger, he wouldn’t have been allowed to even walk into the canyon in the first place. He would have to wait to eat.

While Boone had distracted him watching the Khans eat, Six had talked to the men at the table perpendicular to the table Boone ad placed his attention on. The three men must have been important. The man in the middle was the largest and wore a helmet seemingly signifying him as the leader.

Six left the table and brushed her hand against Boone’s wrist as she walked by him.

He took it as a cue to leave with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back bitches. I'm finally done with band camp, I had an extra week I didn't know about. But I'm hoping I might find time now that it's over.


End file.
